Five children of Urfan Sharif, who fled to Pakistan with his wife and brother after his 10-year-old daughter Sara was found dead in Surrey, were found by police in Pakistan during a search on Monday, police officials have said.
Police recovered the children from Sharif’s father’s home in the northern city of Jhelum.
Nasir Mehmood Bajwa, a district police officer, told the Guardian: “Police with a heavy contingent on Monday evening raided Sharif’s residence in Jhelum and recovered five children. They are healthy and in good condition.”
It has been a month since Sharif arrived in Pakistan and called 999 in the UK to report that his daughter was dead at his home in Horsell, near Woking. A post-mortem examination found she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries” over a “sustained and extended” period of time.
Sharif, 41, went to ground along with Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, 29, his five other children, aged between one and 13, and his brother, Faisal Malik, 28.
Bajwa said police broke the locks of the main gate, entered the house and confiscated CCTV cameras. He said they were continuing to search for Sharif, Batool and Malik. Police in Pakistan have raided more than 20 properties in the search.
The Sharif family lawyer, Raja Haq Nawaz, said he did not know the children were in their grandfather’s home.
The BBC reported that a neighbour said: “Police officers, including female officers, raided the house. They broke the CCTV at the entrance and entered it. While inside, more officers arrived outside and stopped the traffic. They stopped everyone from filming on their mobile phones.”
Muhammad Sharif, Sara’s grandfather, told the BBC he had been hiding the children in his home in the north-eastern city of Jhelum but would not say how long they had been there.
He had previously repeatedly denied being in touch with his son or knowing where the family was.
Sharif and Batool appeared in a video released to the media by relatives last week. Batool was the only one to speak, saying “Sara’s death was an incident” and giving no other comment about her stepdaughter or the circumstances of her death.
She went on to say: “Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on. My main concern is that Pakistani police will torture or kill us, that is why we have gone into hiding.”
Muhammad said at the weekend that negotiations were taking place over the trio’s safe transfer to UK authorities.