Italian police suspect a Pakistani family killed a young woman for refusing a forced marriage

Italian police are searching for the body of an 18-year-old girl allegedly murdered by her Pakistani family after refusing to accept a forced Muslim marriage.. The girl's parents, an uncle and two cousins are under investigation for murder, Carabinieri lieutenant colonel Stefano Bove said on Saturday.. All “allegedly participated in the crime,” he explained to the press.

Police are searching a field area to find the missing young woman, Saman Abbas. According to Bove, the agents are inspecting “wells, irrigation canals and greenhouses.”. Saman Abbas, who lived in the northern city of Novellara, rebelled last year against his family's proposal that he marry a cousin in his native country.. Being still a minor, she contacted social services and in November she was transferred to a reception center.

He reported his parents to the police, but on April 11 he returned to them. The police have been looking for her since May 5, when they went to her house and found no one.. Then they found out that her parents had gone to Pakistan without her, and they found footage from a security camera that boded the worst.

On April 29, five people were seen walking away from the house with shovels, a crowbar and a bucket, returning about two and a half hours later.. The Carabinieri identified the five people as family members suspected of murder.. They are believed to have gone to Pakistan.