A ransom for a five-year-old British boy kidnapped in Pakistan and freed this week was paid in Paris, Spain's interior ministry said yesterday, adding five people have been detained.

Authorities detained three people in Spain and two in France, the ministry said in a statement, which came a day after the boy was recovered in good condition after being left in a field in Pakistan.

Two of those arrested in Spain, in Tarragona in the northeast, are suspected of having gone to Paris to seek the ransom for the boy, the statement said. Authorities arrested the man and the woman "once the little boy's release was confirmed," it said.

Two others suspected of collaborating with them were arrested in Paris, according to the statement.

The online edition of regional daily Diari de Tarragona said two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman were detained at their home in the town of Constanti near Tarragona.

Spanish police found a large quantity of money at the suspects' flat, it reported.

Police in Pakistan said the kidnappers had dropped off the child in a field on Tuesday, allowing officers to recover him, but no arrests were made.

Doctors confirmed the boy was in good condition, saying he was under police protection and accompanied by British officials.

Sahil Saeed was taken from his grandmother's house in the town of Jhelum, about 100 kilometres south of Islamabad, in the early hours of March 4 while preparing to leave with his Pakistani father to fly back to Britain.