Kidnapper: Give me £270k or I’ll sell model for sex on the Dark Web
DRUGGED, STUFFED IN A CASE AND SHACKLED FOR SIX DAYS
A BRITISH model was lured to a fake photoshoot in Italy before being drugged, bundled into a suitcase and held hostage for six days while her captor demanded £270,000 for her return, police revealed last night.
The UK-based kidnapper then allegedly threatened to sell the 20year-old woman for sex in an online auction on the so-called Dark Web if his demands were not meant.
The alleged captor, named by Italian police as Polish national Lukasz Herba, 30, lived in Oldbury in the West Midlands and is believed to be part of a sex-trafficking gang.
Italian police revealed that Herba allegedly tried to kidnap the same model in Paris in April, having organised a photoshoot at an address in the French capital, but the bid was apparently aborted.
Herba was in custody last night as officers in Britain and Poland joined a huge manhunt for his unidentified accomplice.
The model’s agency was contacted on July 10 by Herba, posing as a photographer. The woman, who can’t be named, was asked to go to an address in Milan the next day.
But when she arrived at a nondescript office building, it is alleged Herba and another man assaulted her and injected her with the powerful sedative ketamine.
They handcuffed her, stuffed her into a suitcase and locked her in the boot of a car, it is claimed, and drove to a remote farmhouse 90 miles south-west of Milan.
Footage in Italy showed a female police worker reconstructing the model’s ordeal. Investigators said the victim was kept shackled for a week as Herba demanded £270,000 from her agency using an encrypted online account.
Herba allegedly threatened to put the model up for auction on the Dark Web if the agency did not pay up by July 16, posting semi-naked pictures of the woman with her personal details on an auction site. However, Herba reportedly decided to release the model after finding out that she had a two-yearold son. According to Italian police, the rules of his gang apparently ban ‘kidnapping mothers’. Herba reportedly then drove the model back to the British consulate in Milan, where he was arrested. Before taking his victim to the consulate, he is said to have demanded £45,000 from her and ‘threatened to kill her’ if she told anyone about her ordeal.
The Foreign Office said: ‘We have been providing consular support to a British woman in Italy and are in touch with the local authorities.’
Detectives believe Herba may be part of the notorious Black Death gang and investigators discovered he had organised previous auctions for the sale of girls, including a description and opening price. However, it is unclear whether these involved real women.
Last night, neighbours at Herba’s council flat in Oldbury said the property was raided two weeks ago by police. One neighbour, who lives opposite Herba, said: ‘It was 2.30 in the morning and really loud.
‘I jumped out of bed to see them [police] smashing their way into the flat.’
Others described Herba as a ‘freak’. Carpenter Ciaran Williams, 34, said: ‘He’s an unorthodox character and a bit shady.
‘He walked around with a dirty big rat sat on his shoulder and never spoke to anyone. He liked to wear a suit which is unusual for round here and owned two cars – a Merc and an Audi.’