The abductees, all of them students of Sharap Pur Dakhil Madrasa in Assassuni upazila of Satkhira, had been kidnapped last Sunday. They are Rebeka Khatun, 14, daughter of Shawkat Ali, Taslima Khatun, 14, and Aklima Khatun, 12, daughters of Abdul Latif of Bakra village, and Mukta, 12, daughter of Shahidul Islam of Sharap Pur village.

The two arrested for kidnapping are Masuma Khatun, a maidservant at a victim's house, and her father Ruhul Amin.

"The girls were taking preparations for their exams when Masuma allured them to go with her to a local market," said Abdur Rahim, superintendent of police of Satkhira, adding they probably were going to be trafficked abroad.

A traffic police spotted the girls weeping in front of the ticket counter of an inter-district coach service at Gabtoli yesterday and smelt a rat. He requested a passenger bus outfit to take them back to Satkhira and forced Masuma to go with them.

Alerted, Satkhira police received the girls at the other end, escorted them home and arrested Masuma and her father.