'Abducted' girls found safe and well

A nationwide hunt for two girls allegedly abducted from their foster parents at knifepoint ended after they were found safe and well, police said today.

A nationwide hunt for two girls allegedly abducted from their foster parents at knifepoint ended after they were found safe and well, police said today.

Sisters Salina Hafeez, five, and Sarah, three, went missing from Middlesbrough on Wednesday.

They were found at an address in the town centre shortly after midnight when officers searched a number of properties, Cleveland police said.

Four men and three women have been arrested in connection with the abduction and are being held for questioning at police stations in the Middlesbrough area.

A Cleveland police spokesman today said: "Several premises were searched at around midnight in the Middlesbrough area. The children were found safe and well at one of the addresses that were searched.

"They did not need any medical treatment. They were fit and well."

The find came after the girls' unnamed foster mother made an emotional appeal for their safe return.