Model held hostage for six days

A MODEL was lured to a fake photoshoot before being held hostage for six days while her captor demanded $300,000 for her return.

The kidnapper then allegedly threatened to sell the 20-year-old British woman for sex in an online auction on the so-called Dark Web if his demands were not met.

The alleged captor, named by Italian police as Polish national Lukasz Herba, 30, lived in Oldbury in the UK and is believed to be part of a sex-trafficking gang. He was in custody last night as officers 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 was asked to go to an address in Milan the following day. When she arrived, it is alleged Herba and another man assaulted her and injected her with the 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 150km south-west of Milan.

Investigators said the victim was kept shackled for a week as Herba demanded the money from her agency. However, he reportedly decided to release the model after finding out that she had a child.