A Saudi woman, reportedly linked with the royal family, has gone missing in Pakistan and the authorities have registered a kidnapping case against a man from the Lower Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the contents of the FIR and the family sources the man.

The whereabouts of the man, identified as Abul Wahid in the FIR, also remain unknown. He has been booked under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person).

Senior officials in the province are extremely concerned at the development because it involves a high-profile Saudi individual, says Aaj News Peshawar Bureau Chief Farzana Ali.

Pakistan has close economic ties with the Gulf nation which is second home to over two million Pakistanis working in the country.

Sources told Aaj News that the woman’s alleged connection to the royal family is a cause of concern for the Pakistani authorities.

The FIR was filed by a Saudi diplomat using an online FIR registration system at the Margalla Police Station in Islamabad.

It said Abdul Wahid Shahid Khan had kidnapped a Saudi citizen Hannan Abdullah Al-Bashir from Sector F-8 in Islamabad. The Islamabad DIG Operations is requested to arrest the accused to recover the kidnapee and punish the accused, the FIR said.

The complainant Badar Al Haribi also provided the passport numbers of both Wahid and Hannan.

However, Hannan is a masculine name and the FIR does not explicitly refer to the kidnapping victim using feminine pronouns. But police officials in Lower Dir have confirmed that a Saudi woman was missing.

The Lower Dir acting District Police Officer (DPO), Rasheed Khan, told Aaj News that the woman was a 37-year-old bank officer while the accused, a 22-year-old, was serving with her as a driver.

Another police official, who requested not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Aaj News that the woman had already visited Pakistan on a visit visa in the past after she befriended Wahid.

Family sources say the parents of Wahidwere unhappy with the situation back then and they convinced their son to send the Saudi woman back to her country. She left but maintained contact with him.

Earlier this month, on the 25th of Ramadan (April 5) the woman arrived at Wahid’s family home in Lower Dir and the duo disappeared, said the family sources.

Sources say the federal government has instructed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief to find the woman. A team led by an SSP of Pakistan’s Crime Investigation Agency from Islamabad searched for the duo in KP’s different regions but returned after two days, they said.

A senior KP police officer, who requested anonymity, said authorities were unable to locate the Saudi woman despite their best efforts. The woman did come to Lower Dir but she was no longer in the region, he said.

The police have reportedly detained several members of Wahid’s family.

There were unconfirmed reports of a marriage between the Saudi woman and the Pakistani man.

Family sources say Wahid was already married and father of a daughter.