Málaga, (EFE).- The National Police have arrested fifteen people for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping, in Marbella (Málaga), of four men subjected to torture, one of them about to die as a result of a diabetic coma.
The trigger for the illegal detention is the theft of 1,500 kilos of hashish that the captors attributed to the kidnapped, according to what the Police have informed EFE.
The victims of kidnapping and torture in Marbella were handcuffed, subjected to beatings and threats, and also deprived of essential goods such as food and medicine, “to bring them to an extreme situation, so that they could provide information about the destination of the drug.” .
In the operation, half a dozen searches have been carried out in the Malaga towns of Marbella, Benahavís and Estepona and drugs, a pistol, abundant ammunition, ski masks, some 50,000 vacuum-packed euros, several vehicles and false license plates, among other effects, have been seized. .
The kidnapping of the victims took place on December 2 at the home of one of them, in the town of Marbella, but the operation now concludes with the latest arrests.
Deprived of their phones
In total there are thirteen people detained in the province of Malaga and another two in Granada, for their alleged involvement in the crimes of kidnapping, belonging to a criminal organization, illegal possession of weapons, robbery with violence, vehicle theft, document forgery and injuries.
The victims were approached by a group of six to eight armed people, who tied their targets hand and foot and took them in a van to another house in a residential area of Marbella.
From the beginning of the illegal detention, the captors allegedly deprived the captives of their phones and intimidated them to obtain their passwords.
Then they contacted their relatives and demanded (under the threat of never seeing their loved ones alive again) a ransom of five million euros.
Between December 4 and 5, the agents received four disappearance reports at the police station. The cases denounced by the relatives of the disappeared are quickly connected to each other, as they occur in the same space-time framework and have many similarities.
In the course of the investigations, one of the victims was released by her captors and a search continued to find the whereabouts of the other three victims, one of them with severe diabetes.
Diabetic coma of one of the victims
After almost a week of kidnapping, the agents arrived at the home of one of the victims -the place where the illegal detention began- and they located four pills of 100 grams each of hashish and, in addition, remains of burlap of those that are usually used to wrap the bales.
Subsequently, the investigations allowed us to track down a stolen van and a second “shuttle” vehicle.
The investigations led the agents to a villa in Marbella where the victims remained imprisoned. There, and prior to entering and searching the house, one of the hostages is released, in critical condition.
Police pressure and the fear of being prosecuted for homicide led the captors to release “in extremis” one of the victims, dying, who had become unconscious due to suffering from a diabetic coma and who remained hospitalized for more than a month. .
At the place of captivity, the agents arrested four people with firearms and rescued two victims, tied hand and foot, with multiple injuries. A stolen van and another car used in the kidnapping were also recovered.
The operation ended with the arrest of eleven other people, including two men, who would have contacted the relatives of the victims from Granada demanding money for their release. EFE