Three arrests over Sahil Saeed kidnap and ransom demand

Sahil Saeed was taken in the Punjab region of Pakistan

Spanish police have arrested two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman in connection with the ransom demanded for kidnapped British boy Sahil Saeed.

Sahil, five, from Oldham, was taken from his grandmother's house in Jhelum on 3 March, then freed 13 days later.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid said officers in Constanti, Catalonia, had confirmed the arrests, but said the investigation was still open.

Sahil's return is being organised by the UK High Commission in Pakistan.

He was taken when robbers broke into the house while he and his father were on holiday in the Punjab region to visit relatives.

Up to 10 family members inside the house were said to have been beaten by the intruders during a six-hour ordeal. The robbers then took items believed to be jewellery and money and fled with the boy.

The gang had apparently demanded a £100,000 ransom for Sahil's return, but his family had said there was "no way" they could afford any such payment.

'Gang of five'

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says kidnapping is not rare in Pakistan, and even when ransoms are handed over, such cases do not always end happily.

The policy of the Foreign Office is that it does not pay ransoms and it advises others not to do so.

After Sahil was released on Tuesday Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson, of Greater Manchester Police, said that police did not expect to make imminent arrests in the UK, but there could be arrests in other parts of Europe and there was a determination to "bring people to justice".

ACC Thompson said "things were moving very quickly" in relation to the investigation and that he was unable to comment on whether a ransom had been paid, because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

BBC Pakistan correspondent Orla Guerin, in Jhelum, said while there were still many unanswered questions, police kept repeating that there was no evidence of involvement by anyone in Sahil's family.

She said the local police chief had said he was searching for "a gang of five" and would give more details once an arrest had been made.