Missing Teenage Girls Who Ran Away To Meet BTS Have Been Found

Two teenage girls from Karachi, Pakistan, who were reported missing last week have been found over 750 miles away from home after attempting to travel to South Korea to meet BTS.

Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police Abraiz Ali Abbasi said the two girls, aged 13 and 14, were recovered from Lahore, and the initial investigation showed no signs of kidnapping, Dawn reported.

The unidentified girls voluntarily left their homes in Korangi in Karachi city Saturday and intended to travel to the seven-member K-pop group’s home country to meet them as they were “extremely inspired by the band,” the police official said.

In a video statement obtained by CNN, Abbasi said that while searching the teens’ homes, police found a diary that revealed their plans to go to South Korea, including train timetables.

“From the diary we saw mentions of train timetables and that they had been planning to run away with another friend of theirs … who we then interviewed,” Abbasi said in the video, according to the outlet.

He continued, “We started tracking them aggressively and found out they were in [the] custody of the police in the city of Lahore where they had traveled by train.”

Abbasi noted that arrangements have been made in coordination with Lahore authorities for the girls to be taken back home to Karachi.

The police official also appealed to parents to “please monitor their children’s screen time,” so they would be aware of what their children are watching on the internet.

The teenage girls’ disappearance was first reported Saturday at the Zaman Town police station under Section 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14) of the Pakistan Penal Code, according to Dawn.

The complainant was Mohammed Junaid, the father of one of the teenage girls. He said that he was at his home with his 13-year-old daughter when her friend, also aged 13, arrived. He said that he went to the roof, but upon his return, both girls were nowhere to be found.

Junaid said he was told by family members that they saw the two girls going outside. Later, the father of his daughter’s friend also arrived and asked about her whereabouts. The two fathers searched for hours but could not find the two girls.

Junaid said he suspected that unknown people had kidnapped the girls for some “ulterior motive.” But police have since confirmed that they ran away from home of their own accord.

Culture journalist Rabia Mehmood commented on the incident, saying, “It isn’t a surprise that two teenagers took this risk because ‘stans’ are capable of doing this for their idols.”

“But if we had more safe organized fan-girling spaces, younger fans could engage openly and freely with each other about their favorites instead of taking such risks,” Mehmood added, according to CNN.

BTS has a huge following across the globe, including Pakistan.

The band, consisting of members Jin, RM, Jungkook, V, Jimin, J-Hope and Suga, is currently on hiatus as a group to pursue solo endeavors. They announced last year that all seven members will serve their mandatory military service in South Korea.

Jin, 30, the oldest member of the group, enlisted in their country’s military last month, with his service expected to end in 18 months. The other six members have yet to announce their official enlistment dates.

BTS is expected to reunite as a group in 2025.