Police rescued a maize trader from Sirajganj early today, 7 hours after his abduction from Thakurgaon Sadar upazila last evening.

Eight criminals were also arrested on charge on abducting Jewel Rana (28), hailing from Chowdhuryhat village in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila, said Tanvirul Islam, officer-in- charge of local police station.

OC Tanvirul Islam told The Daily Star that Jewel Rana was travelling to Panchgarh yesterday evening for collecting payment from different maize traders, to whom he supplied maize earlier.

When he reached Egaromile Mujabarni village in Sadar upazila around 7:00pm, a group of criminals in a white microbus intercepted his motorbike and forcibly dragged him into their vehicle, our Thakurgaon correspondent reports quoting the OC.

A local shopkeeper, who witnessed the abduction, informed the matter to the OC over phone immediately and gave all the details including the colour of the vehicle used by the abductors and also the last three digits of its number plate.

The OC immediately provided information to the police outposts at different points of the northern districts.

After an hour of abduction, the abductors contacted Sohel Rana's family members using the victim's cell phone and demanded Tk 15 lakh as ransom.

Thakurgaon police tracked down the mobile phone location -- Sirajganj -- and informed the district's Bangabandhu Bridge (West) Police Station around 1:30am today.

Mosaddek Hossain, OC of Bangabandhu Bridge (West) Police Station, responded promptly and within 10 minutes, his team intercepted the microbus at the check post and rescued the victim.

They also arrested eight criminals including the driver of the vehicle, OC Tanvirul said.

The arrestees are: Ashraful Islam Arif (27) and Alal Uddin (35) of Jamalpur, Humayun Kabir (45) of Kurigram,  Delwar Hossain (32) and Md Al-Amin (35) of Brahmanbaria, Md Sohag (32) of Noakhali, Delwar Hossain (45) of Bogura and driver Salauddin (39) of Rajshahi.

Jewel Rana was taken to Sirajganj Sadar Hospital as he was beaten up mercilessly by the abductors.   

Meanwhile, the victim's mother Anjuara Begum filed an abduction case around midnight against unidentified criminals, OC said.

When contacted, the victim's mother said, "As police responded promptly, my son has been rescued within short time." 

A police team led by Inspector (Investigation) Golam Mortuza from Thakurgaon has started for Sirajganj to bring the criminals to Thakurgaon police station, sources said.