A wealthy businessman has been reunited with his family after his 30-hour kidnap ordeal was brought to an end.

The 45-year-old Teesside man, who was held hostage by a gang who demanded a substantial ransom from his family, was freed last night.

Police later arrested a suspect in North Yorkshire and are questioning him today as the hunt for three others thought to be involved is stepped up.

More than 100 officers, including some from the National Crime Squad, have been involved in what police described as "a major operation".

At a press conference at Cleveland Police headquarters in Middlesbrough today, assistant chief constable Derek Bonnard said: "While we are extremely pleased that this operation has come to a successful conclusion, we still have a long way to go."

The victim, who is from Hartlepool, was snatched from a car park near the town's Dalton Street at around 2pm on Monday.

Police believe he was abducted by a gang of three men, thought to be from Tyneside, who attacked him and bundled him into a vehicle.

Throughout Monday and yesterday, the man's brother, also from Hartlepool with business interests in the town, received a number of calls from a man with a Geordie accent demanding tens of thousands of pounds for his safe return.

Police set up a covert operation and the victim was released at Wynyard, on the outskirts of Hartlepool, late last night.

More than an hour later, a 42-year-old Hartlepool man driving a white Ford Transit van was arrested by armed police in Stokesley and the ransom money was recovered.

Close relatives of the kidnap victim were taken to places of safety while the police hunted for his abductors.

Mr Bonnard said the man was "traumatised and shocked" and had been injured during his ordeal, but was unable to give detectives much information on what had happened.

"He has suffered injuries although they are not life-threatening," said Mr Bonnard. "He was examined by a police doctor before being released into the care of his family.

"We will be speaking to him at length later today, so at the present time we are not releasing his name."

Police want to hear from anybody who may have seen the van, registration number Y599 GFT, in the past few days, or anyone who witnessed the kidnap.

The numbers for the incident room are (01642) 303187 and (01642) 301783.