The kidnapping of young Briton Sahil Saeed has focused the international spotlight on one of Pakistan's more murky secrets.

Kidnapping for ransom is one of the most profitable and widespread criminal enterprises in the country. But it is one that has, until now, been fairly well hidden.

Five-year-old Sahil was kidnapped after armed robbers broke into his family home in the town of Jhelum in central Punjab province.

Since then, amid huge media attention, the police have been making an all-out effort to recover him.

Those efforts at the moment appear to have reached an impasse.

'Mistake'

"The main thing to do at the moment is not to lose hope," says Jameel Yusuf, one of Pakistan's top anti-kidnapping experts.

Mr Yusuf is the former head of the Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), a unique joint venture between officers and citizens in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi.

The committee was formed in 1990 to tackle abductions in collaboration with government security agencies.