KIDNAPPED MODEL ON SALE FOR £230K
Gang offered Brit up for auction bid
KIDNAPPERS who seized a British model in Italy offered her up for sale on the dark web with a price tag of £230,000.
The 20-year-old beauty was lured to Milan from Paris by the promise of a photoshoot.
Crooks, including a West Midlands-based Pole, staged the fake shoot in a disused shop.
They then drugged her with ketamine, tied her up and threw her in the boot of a car.
She was driven to a farmhouse near Turin, 120 miles away and held for six days.
The gang posted an ad on the dark web – encrypted websites used by crooks – offering to auction her for £230,000 in bitcoin.
Eventually her captors decided to release her because she had a two-year-old child. But they still demanded £45,000 to free her.
One of them was last night named as Polish-born Lukasz Herba, who has a flat in Birmingham. Police arrested him in Milan as he was about to hand the model over to the British Consulate on July 17.
Details emerged as Herba faced a pre-trial hearing in the city on Friday. The court was told he was part of a gang called Black Death and dealt in chemicals and poison.
Police, who are now hunting the others, are unclear if the kidnappers intended to sell her, or con any takers out of cash. Prosecutors said the kidnapping was “very well-organised”. Third parties were contacted two days later with an offer to buy her for whatever twisted purpose they wanted.
One neighbour of Lukasz in Oldbury, Birmingham, said: “Police came here about two weeks ago and kicked the door down.
“It was 2.30 in the morning and really loud. I jumped out of bed to see them smashing their way into the flat. As far as I know, he lived alone.”
Another resident said: “He used to drive a red Toyota and come racing up to the front door before driving off again about half an hour later. He was never in the flat for long. He was always in a suit but he never said anything. He never gave the impression of being friendly.”
The Foreign Office confirmed it was providing assistance to the woman in Italy.