By Stuart Nicolson
BBC Scotland news website reporter |
The 58-year-old shopkeeper had changed into his pyjamas after finishing evening prayers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
 Javed Mukhtar was taken from his home |
Within seconds, the family's quiet existence was shattered as two masked gunmen burst into their home.
In the chaos that followed, the gunmen grabbed Mr Mukhtar, dragged him outside and bundled him into a van.
As members of Mr Mukhtar's family gave chase, one of the kidnappers turned and fired a shot that narrowly missed his son Bilal, 25.
Mr Mukhtar, who has type-2 diabetes, was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken 200 miles to Manchester, where he was moved between three separate locations.
The incident sparked the longest police kidnapping inquiry in British history, with 800 officers from forces in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland engaged in a 25-day game of cat and mouse with the kidnappers.
A series of ransom demands for �2.5m were made by the gang with threats that Mr Mukhtar would be seriously hurt or even killed if they were not met.
Unknown to the kidnappers, detectives had established at an early stage that Mr Mukhtar was being held at a location in Manchester.
An underworld tip-off had allowed them to identify individual members of the gang and record their every movement for several days.
However, officers had to tread carefully to avoid placing Mr Mukhtar in even greater danger by alerting the gang to their presence.
After a series of telephone negotiations between Mr Mukhtar's family and the kidnappers, the gang eventually reduced their demands to a payment of �400,000 - a mistake which was to lead to their downfall.
An elaborate police sting was planned, with an undercover officer dropping off a bag of money at an emergency point on the M6 near Charnock Richard while colleagues watched covertly.
Mistaken identity
Once a member of the gang had collected the cash, Mr Mukhtar was thrown from the back of a van in Warrington, where he was found wandering the streets in his underwear.
As soon as they learned Mr Mukhtar was safe, armed police officers swooped on the gang's three getaway vehicles and arrested the kidnappers.
More than six months after the kidnapping, and with the gang all now behind bars, police said they were no closer to discovering a motive for the kidnapping.
Mr Mukhtar had no connection with the criminal underworld, and his family could not possibly have raised the �2.5m ransom. None of the kidnappers had any direct link with the Glasgow area.
 Top row l-r: Adams, Haining, Rosales; Bottom row l-r: Smith, White, Wright |
Det Supt Willie Prendergast of Strathclyde Police, who was leading the hunt, said Mr Mukhtar could have been a victim of mistaken identity.
"This was a planned operation committed by a gang of desperadoes who were armed to the teeth," he said.
"They were determined to get their hands on a vast amount of money and showed very little concern about the ordeal they were putting their victim through.
"The mental strain on Mr Mukhtar was phenomenal and it is a tribute to his character that he came through, although the healing process continues."
Mr Prendergast said the kidnappers had realised they had taken the wrong man and began to treat him slightly better as the days went by.
He said: "It was clear to us that this was an entirely innocent man. It is perhaps the case that the criminals simply got their intelligence wrong.
"It was a trying, protracted inquiry during which time a man's life was in the balance.
"It was to the delight of all concerned in the inquiry that we managed to reunite Mr Mukhtar with his family.
"That was perhaps one of the most pleasurable days I have had in my time with the police service."
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This was a planned operation committed by a gang of desperadoes who were armed to the teeth
