Members of the Policía Nacional broke up a pretty ruthless kidnapping gang that had been operating in the city of Granada, ending up with the arrests of seven alleged gang members, three of whom are aged between 19 and 23 and five homes being searched.

The gang, wearing hoods and carrying firearms, reportedly snatched their victims off the street and bundled them into a car. Once they had them in their power they beat them to force them to plead with their families to pay a ransom – and we’re talking about, in some cases, up to 15,000 euros.

Another of the ‘pastimes’ that the gang members used on their captives was to force them to play Russian roulette; loading one round in to a chamber of a revolver.

The gang also used their victims’ cars as get-away vehicles for armed raids on shops and other business premises, as well as running three, indoor ‘plant nurseries’ for the cultivation of marijuana – 185 plants were seized by the police. To supply the electricity needs of the nurseries they had illegally hooked up to the power network.

The police searches of the gang members’ homes turned up three shotguns, an automatic pistol, a revolver, a tazer, a crossbow, a katana, several kilos of hashish and 62 ecstasy pills. The police also impounded a top-of-the-range 4×4 and 25 mobile telephones.

The police investigations began in January when the existence of the gang came to their notice with the first clues providing the identification of the gang members, all of whom resided in the marginal quarters of the city.

(News: Metropolitan Granada, Andalucia)