A Sunday Mercury journalist is being held by the authorities in Pakistan.

Amardeep Bassey, (29), the paper's investigations editor, was arrested on Friday when he tried to return to Pakistan from Afghanistan.

He had been reporting on the upheavals in the war-torn nation from the capital Kabul.

According to the Birmingham Evening Mail, Amardeep (left) has a valid visa for both countries, but was detained in the border town of Torkham when the authorities examined his passport and spotted that he did not have the required exit stamp on his visa.

Amardeep was arrested along with two other men and taken to a prison in nearby Landi Kotal.

Sunday Mercury editor David Brookes said: "I have been in touch with the Foreign Office who have contacted authorities in Peshawar."

A Foreign Office spokesman in London said the matter was being investigated.

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