Simon and his college friend Sanjoy Kumar Dev were abducted for ransom on the afternoon of August 20 and rescued by police from a remote hilly area near Sitakunda in an early morning operation.

"We passed days and nights in agony and fear," said Simon, the youngest son of businessman Rafiq Miah.

Both were hoodwinked by a gang and did not understand what was going on until they were confined to a thatched house in the outlying area and pressured for ransom.

He accused Kazi Helaluddin, elder brother of Kazi Mostaq, a tenant of a mess owned by his (Simon) family, of trapping them helpless.

"On Wednesday morning, Helal came to my house with one Joynal whom I met for the first time and assured me of admission to the Government Mohsin College."

"Later in the day, Helal called me and asked me to see him in the Colonel Hat area for important talks about my admission. I took Sanjoy with me and went there only to be abducted by the gang of 12. Helal was among them."

"The gang tied and blindfolded us and shoved us into a microbus. After a few hours of journey we arrived in a place far from the city and were held hostage. We saw the five arrestees today (Tuesday)."

"In daytime, the abductors took us to different places on the hills and allowed us to stay overnight in a house. It continued six days," Simon said.

"The abductors pressured us to give the ransom they demanded and kept contact with their leaders by phone."

Sanjoy came up with the same litany of experience. "They gave us meagre breakfast and lunch -- bread, rice and vegetables. We were starving," said Sanjoy, with his parents around.

"If your father doesn't oblige, we will take kidneys out of your body and sell them for money," an abductor was quoted as saying.