Suspect’s brother arrested in probe into kidnapping of model in Italy
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 is believed to have been snatched by a group calling itself Black Death after being lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan last month.
Chief suspect Lukasz Pawel Herba has said he did not knowingly take part in any crime, and on Wednesday the National Crime Agency (NCA) said it had arrested his brother, Michal Konrad Herba.
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.
The 20-year-old said she was injected with ketamine after being lured to a fake modelling shoot before being bundled into the boot of a car and told she was going to be sold as a sex slave.
Ms Ayling, from 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.