Dhaka schoolboy abduction rescue: A dramatic roadside appeal by a desperate father led to the swift rescue of his abducted teenage son on Tuesday, after the convoy of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was stopped near the Secretariat in Dhaka.
The victim, a 14-year-old ninth-grade student, was allegedly abducted earlier in the afternoon from outside a diagnostic centre in the Shantinagar area while returning home from coaching classes on his bicycle.
According to family members, two unidentified men intercepted the boy around 3:30 pm, forced him into a nearby abandoned building, and later took him to the seventh floor of a 10-storey under-construction structure in Khilgaon.
The abductors reportedly assaulted the teenager and used his mobile phone to call his mother, demanding a ransom of Tk 50,000. When the family said they could not arrange the amount, the demand was reduced to Tk 30,000, accompanied by threats of further violence.
The boy’s father, Khondkar Shamim Hasan — a darkroom assistant at the Press Information Department under the Ministry of Information — rushed toward the passing prime ministerial convoy near the Secretariat, pleading for immediate help.
Sources said the Prime Minister ordered authorities to take urgent action, triggering a rapid police operation in the Khilgaon area.
Law enforcement officers soon located the under-construction building where the teenager was being held and rescued him within hours of the abduction. The suspects, however, reportedly fled before police arrived.
The rescued boy was later reunited with his family. Authorities said efforts are underway to identify and apprehend the kidnappers.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about urban safety and child security in the capital, even as many praised the quick response that prevented a potentially tragic outcome.