The Rapid Action Battalion rescued a four-year-old boy named Araf Hossain Shanto early on Friday from the capital's Pallabi area three days he was abducted by a group of miscreants.
Lt Col Mohammad Sahabuddin Khan, commanding officer of RAB 4, said Shanto's father Abdus Sattar filed a complaint with RAB saying his son had gone mission on Tuesday from their house in the capital's Kafrul area.
Later, he received a phone call from some people who claimed to have abducted his son and demanded Tk10 lakh in ransom for his release, the RAB official said while addressing a press briefing at RAB 4 office in Mirpur.
“Based on that information, we started our investigation, and three days later we found Shanto in a house at Pallabi. We also arrested four of his abductors – Asma Sultana Shonda, 18, Mehedi Hassan Shaon, 20, Golam Mostofa, 20, and Mostofa's wife Ayesha Akther, 20,” he told reporters.
“Asma, who is Sattar's sister-in-law on his maternal side, was the mastermind behind the abduction along with her boyfriend Mehedi,” the RAB commanding officer said, adding that it was Mehedi's house that they kept Shanto in.
During interrogation, the arrested confessed that Asma's paternal cousin Lima, 22, was also involved in the abduction. RAB is currently looking for Lima to bring her in, the RAB official said.