Sahil Saeed, a five-year-old British boy kidnapped in Punjab, has not been freed and is still being held by kidnappers, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said.

A Foreign Office spokesperson told inthenews.co.uk that Sahil had definitely not been released, as had been claimed by a senior Punjab minister earlier today.

Sahil was taken at gunpoint by men who raided his grandmother's house in Punjab last week.

On Thursday morning Pakistan's Geo TV quoted Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah as saying the boy had been rescued in the town of Sialkot and a man and a woman had been arrested.

But an FCO statement said: "We have confirmation from the Pakistan authorities that Sahil has not been released.

"Police in Pakistan are still investigating and we continue to provide consular assistance to Sahil's family."

inthenews.co.uk understands that the confusion arose from a case of mistaken identity.

Senior police officers said Mr Sanaullah was confusing the case with a separate kidnap in Rawalpindi.

Police chief Kahlid Mahmoud told the BBC the reports were false, while Wagar Chohan, another senior police official, said: "I wish the news were true but it's not true.

"We recovered one child, but that was not this case. That child was abducted from Rawalpindi."

Sahil's family, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, have pleaded for the kidnappers to release the five-year-old, with his mother Akila Naqqas saying he had never been separated from her or his father Raja Naqqash Saeed.

Mr Naqqash Saeed reportedly returned to the UK yesterday against the wishes of Pakistani police.

Last week the kidnappers demanded £100,000 for the release of Sahil.
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