27 days after abduction, Indian freed in Herat

NEW DELHI: The Indian national who was abducted in Afghanistan almost a month ago was released and one of the abductors arrested after Afghan security forces launched a rescue operation.

Sarang Mohammed Nayeem, 40, was kidnapped along with Nepali national Gurung and Afghan driver as they were traveling in a taxi on a main highway in Adraskan near Herat. The Afghan driver was subsequently released. The two men work for Dubai-based logistics firm HEB International in Adraskan in Herat. They reached the premises of HEB International in Adraskan on Sunday morning. ���Both persons who suffered a long ordeal of 27 days in captivity are in good spirits and content about their safe release,��� said a release from the Indian embassy in Kabul.

���The Indian embassy is deeply appreciative to the government of Afghanistan in bringing this matter successfully to a close,��� the release added. The embassy said that the two men were kidnapped by a ���criminal gang��� on April 21.

Agency reports from Afghanistan quoted Herat���s police spokesman Noor Khan Nikzad as saying that five people have been arrested for the abductions. ���Afghan security personnel arrested five persons with suspected links to the abductors following the kidnapping in Adraskan, which mounted pressure on the kidnappers and thus forced them to release the Indian and Nepalese,��� Mr Nikzad was quoted as saying.

Mr Nayeem speaking to a television channel said, ���We were detained in a mountainous area. Kidnappers spoke in Farsi. I don���t think the Taliban was involved.���