Punjab police have arrested a fugitive who is a suspect in the gang rape of a female student in Gujranwala that took place six years ago. He was arrested upon his arrival at Allama Iqbal International Airport on Sunday.
The suspect was hiding out in Yemen and arrived to Lahore on Sunday, where he was apprehended and handed over to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), Gurjanwala.
According to the law enforcement agency, the suspect, Shajar Hussain, was declared a proclaimed offender by officials, after the man evaded several attempts at capture by police.
Law enforcement had also notified Interpol for assistance in capturing the suspect.
The incident occurred six years ago in the jurisdiction of Ladhewala Warraich police station in Gujranwala.
In a separate matter, in September of 2020 a woman was gang-raped by two men along a motorway near Lahore. The incident caused public outrage. The woman and her two children were stranded on the side of the road during the middle the night when two men robbed the woman and raped her in front of her children. The two men were sentenced to death for the rape.
According to data from the National Police Bureau, a total of 2,564 cases of gang-rape were reported during between 2016 to 2020. The highest number of gang-rape incidents were recorded in 2018, when 458 cases were reported. In 2020, the most recent data available, 260 cases of gang-rape were reported in Pakistan, with the majority being reported in Punjab.
