Guwahati, Oct 16 (IANS): An air force personnel, held hostage in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, was Thursday rescued in a joint operation by Assam and Meghalaya police.

Anand Mohan Das, 40, was posted at the Indian Air Force base at Borjhar near the Lopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here.

Das, who hails from West Bengal, had gone to the district for some personal work with two people - Nekibur Zaman and Sofikul Islam, a police officer said here.

"The two people held him hostage in a house and demanded Rs.10 lakh as ransom," the officer said, adding that Zaman and Islam were arrested during the raid.

"We launched a search across lower Assam districts of Kamrup, Barpeta, Goalpara and Dhubri soon after a complaint was lodged at Azara police station Oct 6. But we could not trace him.

"We came to know that Das had visited West Garo Hills. Accordingly, we launched an operation there. Finally, we managed to rescue him from a house at Tikritilla village," the officer said.