Two members of a gang that allegedly lured job aspirants from across the country with offers to work abroad were arrested in the city on Wednesday night on charges of kidnapping and extorting money from a family in Gujarat, police said.

Samir Das, 42, of Shaymnagar in North 24-Parganas, and Jogeswar Kamat, 35, from Bidhannagar South, were arrested for allegedly kidnapping the family of five — a five-year-old girl, a seven-year-old boy, their father Yogesh Kumar Dabhi, 35, mother Kajalben, and her cousin Nehaben.

The five were allegedly confined in a house off Kalyani Expressway, which runs through North 24-Parganas, the police said.

“Das is the owner of the house where the family was detained and where the ransom amount was realised. Kamat is a driver and allegedly a gang member. Kamat booked the family a hotel in Rabindra Sarobar (south Calcutta),” a senior police officer said.

The two have been charged with kidnapping for ransom, wrongful restraint and criminal conspiracy.

“The accused were produced before a court and remanded in police custody till July 22,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police’s South East division said. “We want to reach the bosses for whom the two worked,” he added.

Investigators found out about the alleged abduction when a resident of Gandhinagar in Gujarat filed a complaint with Rabindra Sarobar police station on Tuesday.

He alleged that he was unable to contact the family since July 3, after they left a hotel in Rabindra Sarobar for the airport.

The complainant, Vishal Patel Rajinikant, 26, from Gandhinagar, who is in Calcutta, told the police that around midnight on June 3, he received a WhatsApp call from Dabhi informing him that he and his family were at the Calcutta airport and were proceeding to collect boarding passes. Dabhi did not disclose where they were headed.

“Vishal said that soon after the call ended, he received photographs that suggested the immigration process of the family had been completed. He tried to verify the pictures and concluded they were fake and that no one by the names mentioned had received boarding passes for any flight leaving the Calcutta airport,” the police officer said.

He filed a complaint, and a case was drawn up.

A police team traced the family to an area around the airport on Wednesday. The family members broke down, saying they were kept confined in the house and were forced to pay several lakhs.

Subsequent investigation revealed that a company named Abroad Dreams Immigration, which allegedly lures job seekers from different parts of India with job offers in Canada, Mauritius, and Australia, had tapped Dabhi earlier this year.

A loan recovery agent for a private bank in Gujarat, Dabhi, was offered a better-paying job in Canada.

Yogesh took the bait and agreed to move out of India with his family. In June, the company’s agent in Gujarat allegedly took Dabhi’s family to Bangkok.

“One of the company’s agents who was accompanying the family said it was easier to process job applications for immigrants to Canada from Thailand,” the officer said.

However, things didn’t work out, and the family was brought to Calcutta and was lodged in a hotel on VIP Road on June 23.

Vishal accompanied the family to Calcutta.

Three days later, on June 26, the recruitment company allegedly shifted the family to another hotel in Rabindra Sarobar.

Vishal is said to have moved to a separate address with his work but remained in touch.

On July 8, he informed the police after sensing trouble.