Pakistan-origin girl feared dead after refusing arranged marriage

Police in Italy are searching for the body of the girl identified as Saman Abbas is suspected to have been killed by her Pakistani family after she refused to marry someone as per her family’s traditional plan.

Saman’s family wanted her to marry a cousin in Pakistan, but she protested.

Reportedly, girl’s parents, an uncle and two cousins are under investigation for the suspected murder case.

However, police officers were searching through farmland to find the girl.

The missing girl, Saman who lived in the northern town of Novellara.

After refusing her parent’s traditional plan and being a minor, she turned to social services and in November was moved into a shelter home. She reported her parents to the police as well, but on April 11 returned to them.

Police visited her house and found nobody which trigged an investigation. Officers then discovered that the girl’s parents had left for Pakistan without their daughter, and found images from a nearby security camera that made them fear the worst.

Police have been searching for her since May 5

Investigators found a CCTV footage of April 29, where five people can clearly be seen walking off from the house holding shovels, a crowbar and a bucket, and returning after about two and a half hours.

The Carabinieri which is national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic policing duties, have identified the five as the family members suspected of murder.

All are believed to have left Italy for Pakistan.

Carabinieri is one of Italy's main law enforcement agencies, alongside the Polizia di Stato and the Guardia di Finanza.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people took part in a solidarity rally for the missing girl that was organised on Friday night by the town hall of Novellara.