A Swedish tourist, who had only moments after landing at Málaga Airport been kidnapped, was held hostage for 23 days and held for a ransom of 500,000 euros in bitcoins.

The kidnappers moved their victim from one dwelling to another every five days, according to the Policía Nacional press release.

The victim had flown to Málaga from Turkey to visit a friend and explore the country as a tourist. When he landed in Málaga he was picked up by somebody, supposedly organised by this friend to take him to his hotel. That’s when he disappeared.

The police began investigating when the victim’s family alerted them about his disappearance. They only received news from him five days after his disappearance when his kidnappers made him contact them to issue their demand for a ransom.

The police soon found the first dwelling where he had been kept, but as mentioned above, they moved him repeatedly using forged ID in order to rent tourist accommodation and vehicles.

One of the victim’s relatives, who was living in Istanbul, came to Spain, as it was him who the kidnappers were communicating with. He arranged to meet the kidnappers in a restaurant with the ransom.

One of the kidnappers made several sweeps of the area looking for a police presence whilst the other entered the restaurant with the victim. No sooner as they had entered, the police swooped, arrested the kidnappers and released the hostage, who was immediately taken to a hospital for a check up.

The last dwelling used for holding him was in Fuengirola, which the police searched and found mobile phones used to call the victim’s relative, as well as handcuffs and a replica pistol. The police, furthermore, are convinced that these two men, now being held in custody, were not the only ones involved in organising and carrying out the kidnapping.

(News/Noticias: Malaga Airport, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)