PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The suspected ringleader of a group that kidnapped the Iranian commercial attache in Peshawar, Pakistan, has been arrested, police said Wednesday.
The suspect was arrested in Saran, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niaki, who was assigned to the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province, was abducted at gunpoint on Nov. 13. His driver was killed.
Several suspects had already been arrested and police were looking to the new detainee for information that could speed the diplomat's release.
"We were informed by Pakistani security officials that Attarzadeh is alive, and we hope he will soon reunite with his family," Iranian Ambassador Mashallah Shakeri said last week.
