Punjab police on Tuesday arrested an assistant sub-inspector for his involvement in the kidnapping of a couple abducted from outside their house in Rawalpindi in the month of June, police said.

"Westridge police have arrested Mohammad Jahangir for kidnapping a man and his wife on June 5," Station House Officer (SHO) Haji Tariq told DawnNews on Tuesday.

After his arrest, Jahangir was presented before a magistrate court, which had granted physical remand of the accused to police, Tariq added

The SHO also revealed that the accused had also been involved in kidnapping cases before. He claimed that Jahangir runs an organised crime racket in which two constables of the Punjab police have also been found to be involved.

According to the SHO, the two constables are currently serving at a police station in Chakwal. The police have formed search teams for their arrest.

Sub Inspector Imtiaz Hussain told DawnNews that at the time of his arrest, Jahangir was already serving time in a jail in Punjab for another crime.

He said that after the case was registered in June against the former ASI, the police obtained his phone records and used them to track down the accused.

The abductee, Khalid Latif, who was picked up from Rawalpindi's Charring Cross road along with his wife, told DawnNews that as they walking out of their house that day, a car had pulled up and the former ASI and two uniformed constables had stepped out of it to accost them.

Latif added that other men, wearing plain clothes, were sitting inside the vehicle. "All the men were armed," he recalled.

Latif claimed that the men had told him that a police case had been registered against him in Jhelum and asked him to come with them. When he asked them to show him a copy of the case, the men forced him and his wife into their vehicle and drove off.

Latif added that after they crossed the Madara Hotel Plaza, the car came to a stop and he and his wife were told to step out as the suspects changed vehicles.

When Latif and his wife cried for help, motorway police officials stationed nearby came to their rescue. The suspects fled, taking the couple's mobile phones and jewelry with them.

Westridge police were then informed of the incident and a first information report was registered. Raids are being carried out for others involved in the crime.