ABBOTTABAD, Jan 3: Police have arrested five people from Rawalpindi and Islamabad after recovering Majid Ali, who was abducted on Dec 18 from Abbottabad.

Initially, the abductors had demanded Rs50 million as ransom which was reduced to Rs20 million.

All the accused are in the custody of the Islamabad police and have been kept in Barah Khoo police station. They would be handed over to Abbottabad police after completing the inter-provincial transfers procedure.

The SSP Abbottabad, Iqbal Mehmood, told newsmen at the police club on Friday that Majid Ali son of Haji Zumarad Khan Jadoon, a well-known personality of Hazara, was abducted by some unidentified persons on Dec 18 for which an FIR had been lodged by his family on Dec 21.

Three teams, headed by the SSP, comprised DSP Cantt Mumtaz Zareen, SHO Shah Nazar, Inspector Aziz Afridi, SHO Nawansher Shoukat and SI Shah Jehan, were sent to different parts of the NWFP and Punjab.

After a number telephone calls from Sakhakot, Peshawar and Lahore, the police tighten grip around the culprits and arrested a driver named Ethesham of Haripur from a poultry farm in Islamabad.

On his identification the police recovered Majid Ali from a house near Islamabad. Two guards, Amjad and Arif, were also arrested.

Police arrested the main accused Dawar Khan s/o Ali Afzal Khan Jadoon and his companion Waheed from Etabar Hotel Raja Bazaar, Rawalpindi. All five accused are in the custody of Islamabad police and would be shiftfed to the NWFP shortly.

The SSP Abbottabad said that the case would be sent to Anti Terrorist Court for trial.

Amjad’s father, Haji Zumarad Khan, paid rich tribute to the Abbottabad police for recovering his son requested for a reward for the investigating team.

Majid told journalists that he was kept all the time handcuffed with repeated threats to kill him.

Haji Zumarad Khan said that Dawar Khan, the main accused, was a close relative of his, whose father owed him Rs700,000.