Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Cousin arrested in France over disappearance of Pakistani teenager in Italy

Cousin arrested in France over disappearance of Pakistani teenager in Italy

A COUSIN of a missing Pakistani teenager has been arrested in France and extradited to Italy as part of an investigation into her disappearance since April, a media report said on Friday (11).

Saman Abbas, 18, who lived with her parents in Novellara, near the northern Italian town of Parma, has been missing since late April; investigators suspect she was murdered by her family for refusing to marry her cousin in Pakistan.


Her parents are believed to have travelled back to Pakistan after her disappearance and her uncle and another cousin are yet to be traced.

Italian police, who combed through the farmland and canals near the teenager’s home, intensified their search using electro-magnetic sensors to scan through the soil thoroughly.

Soon after the news of Abba’s disappearance broke, her father claimed she had travelled to Belgium.

Security camera footage of April 29, a day before the police believe she was murdered, show three of the suspects walking with shovels and a crowbar and a blue bag. A separate footage the following shows the teenager leaving the house with her parents.

Media reports said Abbas had last year rebelled against her family's traditional plan to have her wedded to a cousin in their home country and lived under the protection of social services since October. She, however, returned to the family home in late April.

Prosecutor Isabella Chiesi stated the authorities believed she had been tricked into returning home and there was no hope of a positive outcome to the case, a BBC News report said on Friday. It was a “premeditated murder”, the report quoted the prosecutor as saying.

Responding to Abbas's disappearance, Italy's union of Islamic communities issued a fatwa last week rejecting forced marriages.

More For You

ve-day-getty

VE Day 80 street parties, picnics and community get togethers are being encouraged to take place across the country as part of the Great British Food Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

Public invited to attend VE Day 80 procession and flypast

THE 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day will be marked with a military procession in London on May 5.

The event will include over 1,300 members of the Armed Forces, youth groups, and uniformed services marching from Parliament Square to Buckingham Palace.

Keep ReadingShow less
Knife crimes

Knife-enabled crimes include cases where a blade or sharp instrument was used to injure or threaten, including where the weapon was not actually seen.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Knife crime in London accounts for a third of national total: ONS

KNIFE-RELATED crime in London made up almost a third of all such offences recorded in England and Wales in 2024, with the Metropolitan Police logging 16,789 incidents, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

This amounts to one offence every 30 minutes in the capital and represents 31 per cent of the 54,587 knife-enabled crimes reported across England and Wales last year. The total number marks a two per cent rise from 53,413 offences in 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer and Modi

Starmer and Modi shake hands during a bilateral meeting in the sidelines of the G20 summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil, on November 18, 2024.

Getty Images

Starmer calls Modi over Kashmir attack; expresses condolences

PRIME MINISER Keir Starmer spoke to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning following the deadly attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam region that killed 26 people on Tuesday.

According to a readout from 10 Downing Street, Starmer said he was horrified by the devastating terrorist attack and expressed deep condolences on behalf of the British people to those affected, their loved ones, and the people of India. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London, England. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Post Office spent £600m to keep Horizon despite plans to replace it: Report

THE POST OFFICE has spent more than £600 million of public funds to continue using the Horizon IT system, according to a news report.

Despite deciding over a decade ago to move away from the software, the original 1999 contract with Fujitsu prevented the Post Office from doing so, as it did not own the core software code, a BBC investigation shows.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pahalgam attack: Prayer meet held at Indian mission in London

The prayer meet was led by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami

Pahalgam attack: Prayer meet held at Indian mission in London

Mahesh Liloriya

A PRAYER meet was held at the Gandhi Hall in the High Commission of India in London on Thursday (24) to pay respects to the victims of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Chants of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ rang out at the event which was led by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami.

Keep ReadingShow less