The criminals demanded a 10 million rupee (78,000 pound) ransom after the abduction of the boy, who is of Pakistani origin, in the agricultural town of Jhelum, 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Islamabad, senior local police official Aslam Tarin told Reuters.

"The robbers entered the house late last night and held the family at gun-point all night then left with household possessions as well as the boy," said High Commission spokesman George Sherriff.

Kidnapping is a major problem in Pakistan and many of the crimes go unreported. Police have said Taliban militants use ransoms from kidnappings to fund their insurgency against the U.S.-backed government.

No signs have emerged that the abduction of the boy, Sahil Saeed, is linked to militants.

"The robbers took away 150,000 rupees and some gold. When the family started crying the robbers also took away the child," said senior Jhelum police official Shahbaz Ahmed Hanjra.

Tarin said the kidnappers had been tipped off that the boy and his relatives were planning to fly home to Britain on Thursday after a visit to Pakistan.

"Our suspicion is a taxi driver who was supposed to take them to the airport might have links with the gang as only he knew that they were returning to Britain," he said.

"The taxi driver is in our custody."

Sahil's father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, told Reuters the boy probably could not communic ate with his captors.

"I can imagine how miserable his condition must be. He wouldn't have eaten anything. He must be scared. He can't speak Urdu or Punjabi. I'm so worried about him," he said.

"I appeal to the kidnappers. He is an innocent boy. I don't want anything back except my child."

Tarin said the kidnappers had been in touch with the boy's family. He would not elaborate while the investigation was under way.

"They tied them up, locked them in a room and took my son. That's all I know," the boy's sobbing mother told Sky News.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Robert Birsel in Islamabad; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Bill Tarrant)