Kidnapped Dutch man held to ransom for €1.m freed

A DUTCH man has been released after 11 by a joint police operation after having been kidnapped and used to demand a ransom.

An unidentified Dutch citizen on returning to his home in Lloret de Mar, Girona was assaulted by several men before being drugged, blindfolded and forced into the boot of a car at gunpoint.

The victim´s wife later received a phonecall and was demanded to pay €1,500,000 in return for her husband alive. She contacted the Mossos d´Esquadra, the Catalonian police, who commenced an investigation.

Early inquiries suggested that the perpetrators were an experienced gang from Eastern Europe who were thought to be based between Madrid and Toledo but were known to move around to avoid capture.

The information gathered by Catalonian police was passed on to the Abduction and Extortion unit of the National Police who managed to identify several group members.

The family was contacted once more and agreed to meet to pay the ransom in a hotel car park on the side of the A-42 motorway.

Hours before the meeting however one of the suspect’s cars was identified at a house in Casarrubios del Monte, Toledo. Police observed several gang members making preparations and at one point trying to force the victim into a wheelchair.

The following rapid response liberated the victim without injury and captured four of the five suspects with the final one fleeing through the roof of the building.

The victim was taken to hospital, semi-conscious from the drugs, and was found only to suffer from minor bruising and wrist damage from the bandages he was tied up with.

A search of the detainee´s houses was conducted the following day which lead to the seizure of mobile phones, three vehicles, cocaine, marijuana, ski masks and surveillance technology.

The suspected gang leader is a Romanian citizen who had studied medicine and was practicing in Madrid. This is the alleged source of the drugs used on the victim.  

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