'They were planning to go to South Korea to meet BTS': Missing Pakistani girls thought to have been kidnapped found 1,200km away

Having your child go missing must be a parent's worst nightmare.

That's exactly what Mohammed Junaid from Karachi, Pakistan, experienced on Jan 7 when he thought his daughter was hanging out with her friend on the rooftop but discovered they were nowhere to be found.

Initially, he thought the girls had been kidnapped due to an "ulterior motive" and, after searching for over two hours in vain with the other girl's father, filed a police report according to Pakistani media Dawn.com.

In a bizarre twist of events, the two teenagers, aged 13 and 14, were found in Lahore, over 1,200km away, on Tuesday (Jan 10) attempting to fly to South Korea and meet their idols, K-pop superstars BTS.

In a video posted on Facebook by Karachi Police, Senior Superintendent of Police Abraiz Ali Abbasi revealed initial investigations led to the discovery of a diary belonging to one of the girls.

He said: "We analysed the diary and found train rates and timings that she had written down, that they had planned to run away from home on Jan 7, 2023, and that they had planned to bring along one of her cousins."

He also revealed that the girl's cousin was found at home. Police interviewed him and discovered that the girls are huge fans of BTS.

"They followed them, liked them a lot and were planning to go to South Korea to meet BTS and to work for them," Abbasi concluded.

After contacting other regional police organisations, talking to immigration control and even campaigning through police WhatsApp chats, Karachi police discovered that the girls were in the custody of Lahore police.

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Abbasi also had a public awareness announcement to make.

He said: "I urge parents to monitor their children's screen time, because these incidents may cause public panic. I hope parents can keep their kids safe and we can all do our jobs to provide parental guidance."

This isn't the first time BTS fans have gone where they shouldn't have.

Jin, the first BTS member to enlist for compulsory military training on Dec 13, urged his fans not to go to his training centre after details of his enlistment were leaked.

"There will be many others coming to enlist or accompanying their loved ones as they enlist, so it will be hectic and could lead to potentially dangerous situations," the 29-year-old idol wrote on fansite Weverse.

Dozens of fans braving the freezing weather decided to show up anyway, amid tight security.

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