Police arrested Mahmood's father and mother who, along with the girl's younger brother and sister, were also travelling in the car, Carabinieri official Stefano Fedele said. Mahmood had resided at the shelter in Fano in the central Marche region, since a 2008 court ruling in which her parents' custody rights were suspended.
The decision stemmed from repeated beatings received by Mahmood from her father who apparently did not approve of her Italian lifestyle and friends, according to social workers. After one such beating in April 2008, Mahmood had to be hospitalised. The case has made headlines in Italy after officials at the Fano shelter reported Mahmood's abduction on Monday afternoon.
The girl, shouting for help, was bundled into a car as she returned from school, witnesses said. In 2006 Italy was shocked by the murder of a 21-year-old Pakistani woman Hina Saleem by her father who received a 30-year sentence after confessing he had killed his daughter for disgracing her family and Islam by living with an Italian boyfriend. The case sparked debate on the integration of Muslim immigrants in the country.