Suspect’s brother arrested in model kidnapping case

POLICE investigating the alleged kidnapping of a British model in Italy have arrested the brother of the chief suspect in the West Midlands.

Chloe Ayling, 20, is believed to have been snatched by a group calling itself Black Death after being lured to a fake modelling photoshoot in Milan last month.

Lukasz Pawel Herba, the chief suspect, has said he did not knowingly take part in any crime, and yesterday the National Crime Agency said it had arrested Michal Konrad Herba, his brother.

The 36-year-old was detained at an address in the Tividale area of Sandwell, West Midlands, and is due to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court today.

Michal Konrad Herba was apprehended on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Italian authorities, the NCA said.

Italian police have said Ms Ayling was drugged and transported in a bag to an isolated village near Turin, where she was held for six days as her captors tried to auction her online as a sex slave.

Ms Ayling, from Coulsdon, south London, was eventually taken to the British consulate in Milan after the “horrific ordeal”, but could not return home to London for almost three weeks.