The kidnapping of a 5-year-old British boy in Pakistan Wednesday night has received extensive coverage across British media and has prompted concern that kidnapping is becoming a lucrative “industry” in Pakistan.

Sahil Saeed, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was at his grandmother’s house in the Punjab city of Jhelum when robbers broke in and snatched him, reported the BBC.

Sky News reports on the child’s kidnapping:

According to The Times, the gang tortured the boy’s father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, for several hours before demanding a £100,000 ransom that the family says it cannot afford. A top Pakistani diplomat said on Friday that someone from the child’s family, which was thought of as being wealthy, may have been involved in the kidnapping, reported The Associated Press. A senior Punjab police officer said that several people who might be linked to the kidnappers, including the taxi driver who brought the gunmen to the family’s house, were being questioned, The Telegraph reported.

Past cases of kidnapping in the country have generated discussions that a vast kidnapping “industry” operates in Pakistan. Writing in Pakistan daily The News about the kidnapping of Afghan envoy Abdul Khaliq Farahi in September 2008, Rahimullah Yusufzai said that kidnapping for ransom is a thriving business in Pakistan. He stressed that while kidnapping occur across the country every day, “the issue is highlighted when someone important is snatched or the kidnappers make political demands such as release of people detained by the government”.

Writing in The Times today, Zahid Hussain said that dozens of people are kidnapped for ransom on a daily basis by criminal gangs or Islamic militants seeking to finance their activities. Citing past kidnapping cases, Hussain went on to claim that only a few cases are reported as in some instances, the security forces have been “in cahoots with the kidnappers”.

Kidnapping and other organized crime in Pakistan, especially in the commercial capital of Karachi, has been widely suggested to provide funding for the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party. The recent surge in crime, however, is allegedly due to the Taliban-led militancy and a struggling economy, where a widening social divide has triggered resentment amongst the lower class leading to a boost in robberies, kidnappings and other crimes.