Lahore, August 4

Four minor Pakistani girls, who were abducted last week to be sold into flesh trade in the country's Punjab province, have been rescued with the arrest of six people, including two women, a senior police officer announced on Wednesday.

The girls, aged between eight and 14, were rescued from Sahiwal city, some 170 kms from here, Lahore police chief Ghulam Mahmood Dogar told reporters here.

"A rickshaw driver had taken the girls from Lahore to Sahiwal to sell them into prostitution," he said.

The girls, who lived in a low-income neighbourhood of Lahore, fled their homes after being subjected to constant physical torture by their respective drug-addict fathers, the officer said.

According to the police, the girls disappeared from a nearby China-funded metro train station on Friday. It was suspected that they had been abducted.

"We have arrested six persons, including two women, in the kidnapping of the girls and for planning to sell them into prostitution. The main suspect is Arsalan, the rickshaw driver," the officer said. —PTI