Abducted girls said on way home to England

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ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, England, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson, a girl abducted from her mother in England three years ago, was being returned Friday from Pakistan, an official said.

A member of the European Parliament said Atiya, who was taken from her home in Ashton-under-Lyne on her third birthday in 2009, was on a flight bound for Britain, the BBC reported.

Her father, Razwan Ali Anjum, is in jail for refusing to reveal his daughter's whereabouts despite a court order.

North West Member of European Parliament Sajjad Karim told the BBC Pakistani authorities had been "absolutely crucial" in finding the girl in Lahore.

"The authorities located Atiya, they monitored the address where she was and eventually moved in and informed the people she was living with -- who are the extended family of the father -- that she would have to return to the U.K.," Karim said.

"There wasn't any resistance by them. Atiya was found to be in a fit and healthy state and was well at the time. She was certainly being kept well."

Anjum had picked up his daughter under the pretext of taking her to Southport, Sky News said. Instead, the courts were told, he told her mother, Gemma Wilkinson, she was "never going to see Atiya again," Sky News said.

"As to her whereabouts we know nothing," Wilkinson, whose relationship with Anjum ended in 2008, said last month on her daughter's sixth birthday. "I'm worrying every day, every single day. When I close my eyes I see her.

"She was so funny. She was a little bundle of joy. We just want her home."