I woke up bound & gagged in a bag
Model speaks of kidnap terror at hands of gang
KIDNAPPED model Chloe Ayling spoke yesterday of her terrifying ordeal at the hands of a gang in Italy.
Chloe, 20, was bundled into a car boot after being lured by the false promise of a photoshoot in Milan.
She awoke bound and gagged in a suitcase.
A GLAMOUR model has spoken of her terrifying ordeal after being kidnapped to be sold as a sex slave.
Chloe Ayling, 20, was lured to a fake photoshoot in Milan before being drugged with the horse tranquilliser ketamine and bundled into a car boot.
She told Italian police: “When I woke up I was wearing a pink bodysuit and the socks I am wearing now.
“I was in a car boot with my wrists and ankles handcuffed, adhesive tape on my mouth. I was inside a bag and only able to breathe through a small hole.”
Chloe said she was driven 120-miles to a farmhouse where she was handcuffed to a chest of drawers and slept on the floor for a week. Her kidnappers – called the Black Death Group – posted naked photos of Chloe on the dark web, offering her for sale at £230,000.
Police said she was released when her kidnappers discovered she was a mother with a young son – a breach of their rules.
Yesterday, more than two weeks after she was freed, Chloe was reunited with her mum and pet beagle Nylah.
Speaking outside her family home in Coulsdon, south London, Chloe said: “I’ve been through a terrifying experience. I’ve feared for my life.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the Italian and UK authorities for all they have done to secure my safe release.
“I’m not at liberty to say anything further until I have been debriefed by the UK police.”
Chloe added: “My mum is really happy that I’m back.”
Police have arrested Lukasz Pawel Herba, 30, a Polish immigrant from the West Midlands, and launched a manhunt for his accomplices.
Chloe had told her Instagram followers about the Italian trip before it became a nightmare.
She had allegedly been in Paris before receiving the offer to model in Italian fashion capital Milan on July 11 when she was snatched.
In an account of her ordeal, as told to investigators, she revealed her captors said she would be a sex slave to wealthy Arabs who would eventually “feed her to the tigers”. Local media reported that Chloe said: “When I entered the studio, I had my iPhone and wallet in one hand and my suitcase in the other.
“The door to the studio from the adjoining room was closed and before I could go in, someone put their hand on my neck and the other hand on my mouth which stopped me from screaming. A second person wearing a black balaclava gave me an injection in my right forearm. I think I lost consciousness.”
The model’s dark web “advert” featured a disturbing image of her dressed in a velvet body suit, lying on the floor with her left breast exposed. Her captors had placed a calling card on her stomach.
The ad by Black Death Group – who refer to victims as “merchandise” and boasts they can “kidnap a specific target” – features horrifying promises about the women they traffic.
Chloe was being kept at a cottage in the isolated hamlet of Borgial near Turin.
Artilio Garbano, the only permanent resident, said: “The owner of the house usually rents it out to families but this time he rented it to an English artist who needed peace and quiet.
“I didn’t see any girl. But here it’s dark. If he wanted to unload someone he could wait till my light went off.”
Police said suspected kidnapper Herba became terrified of angering bosses when he realised she was a mum.
Police said he demanded a £230,000 ransom from Chloe’s modelling agency – the same as her auction price.
When the agency notified authorities, Herba allegedly wanted £50,000 from police.
He was arrested as he took Chloe to the British Consulate in Milan.
Police said he had confessed to the kidnap.
Lorenzo Bucossi of Milan Flying Squad said: “She has not suffered any kind of violence.
“She says she was not sexually
I’ve been through a terrifying experience. I feared for my life CHLOE AYLING
assaulted or raped. The author of this very serious crime is a dangerous person, he was also ready to carry out a ‘final solution’, as he called it.” Chloe was released on July 17. West Midlands Police, working with Italian authorities, raided Herba’s flat in Oldbury just hours later. Despite her ordeal, she had to stay in Italy for more than two weeks to answer questions from a judge and assist detectives. Herba eventually appeared in court on Friday. A relative of Chloe said: “The story goes beyond Chloe and has to do with people trafficking and the dark web. “The good news is she’s home now and we’re going to shower her in hugs and kisses.”