A Swedish citizen living in Turkey traveled to Spain to visit the Costa del Sol on February 9. Upon landing in Barcelona, his friend who was supposed to pick him up informed him of a problem and told him to take the next flight to Malaga, where a third person would pick him up and take him to the hotel. The man never made it to the accommodation as he was kidnapped by the people sent by his supposed friend who demanded 500,000 euros in cryptocurrency from his family for his release. After 23 days of captivity, the man was finally freed in an operation that led to the arrest of two of his captors of Syrian and Lebanese origin in Malaga. The investigation is ongoing to dismantle the criminal organization responsible for the abduction.
The kidnappers had taken the victim to an apartment in Fuengirola, where they demanded half a million euros in cryptocurrency for his release from his family. The family decided to file a report with the National Police, which initiated a complex operation to rescue him. Although the authorities located the building where he was being held, the criminals had already moved to a different location using fake documentation to rent vehicles and book accommodations on the Costa del Sol. A family member of the victim traveled to Malaga to communicate with the kidnappers and initiate negotiations with the help of a negotiator from the National Police’s Kidnapping Group in Madrid, who advised on communication methods to ensure the victim’s safety.
After five days of negotiations, a rendezvous was set for the ransom payment at a restaurant in Malaga. During the exchange, the police established a surveillance operation to arrest the criminals. One of the kidnappers conducted surveillance to ensure no law enforcement presence before calling the other kidnapper to bring the victim to the restaurant. When the two kidnappers arrived, one of them carrying a fake gun, they were arrested, and the Swedish citizen was freed after 23 days of captivity. The captured suspects, who are linked to drug trafficking, were charged with kidnapping, assault, and involvement in organized crime.
Following information provided by the victim, the police searched the apartment in Fuengirola where he had been held captive, seizing mobile phones used for communication, handcuffs, and tracking devices. The two arrestees were remanded in custody for charges of kidnapping, assault, organized crime, and moral integrity violations. The operation remains active, with the possibility of additional arrests of accomplices. The case underscores the prevalence of drug-related crimes in the Costa del Sol region and prompted the establishment of a specialized unit within the Organized Crime and Criminal Offenses Unit to address such incidents, resulting in over a hundred arrests in around thirty cases so far.
