Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s swift intervention sparked a rapid police operation yesterday to rescue a kidnapped schoolboy. The 14-year-old son of Khondkar Shamim Hasan, who works as a darkroom assistant at the Press Information Department under the information ministry, was abducted by criminals outside Shantinagar’s Popular Diagnostic Centre after attending coaching classes at around 3:30 pm. Reportedly, while riding his bicycle back home, the boy was intercepted by two individuals who forcibly took him to a nearby deserted building.
Shamim recounted to The Daily Star that the abductors brought his son to the seventh floor of a 10-story under-construction building in the vicinity, where they assaulted him and confiscated his mobile phone. They subsequently used the boy’s phone to contact his mother, demanding an initial ransom of Tk 50,000 with threats of further harm. After explaining their financial constraints, the abductors reduced the ransom to Tk 30,000.
Upon receiving news of the abduction while at the Secretariat, Shamim promptly proceeded to the Ramna Police Station. Upon discovering that Prime Minister Tarique was still onsite, he hurried back to seek his help. As the PM was preparing to depart, Shamim managed to convey the urgency of the situation to him after a brief exchange with security personnel. Tarique, responding to the plea, promptly instructed Deputy Commissioner Masud Alam of Ramna Division, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, to ensure the immediate rescue of the boy.
Within an hour, law enforcement successfully rescued the boy from the abandoned building. Deputy Commissioner Masud Alam disclosed that he received direct orders from Tarique to take swift action. The police swiftly conducted a operation, leading to the rescue of the child from the seventh floor of the abandoned building near Popular Diagnostic Centre in Shantinagar. However, the perpetrators managed to escape upon sensing the police presence, and no arrests have been made yet in connection with the incident. The child was subsequently reunited with his family.