Greek police arrested four men late on Friday for the kidnapping of the son of a business family in Athens. One of the arrestees is a well-known 26-year-old trapper with tens of thousands of followers on social media.
The four men had kidnapped the 23-year-old son of a business family and demanded a ransom of 25,000 euros in cash plus a motorbike worth also 25,000 euros.
According to police, the members of the gang, aged 33, 25, 23 and 26, were located after an organized operation and arrested on Friday in various areas of Attica.
They reportedly raided Airbnb in Kolonaki, Agia Marina, Palaio Faliro and Kallithea.
The four were brought before the Athens District Court Prosecutor on Saturday morning.
Police said the four men have a long criminal history of serious offenses, such as homicide, robberies, drugs, and weapon possession. Some media reported that among them is a well-known trapper and a man linked to a member of the Greek Mafia.
The 26-year-old trapper with over 110,000 followers on Instagram alone, had reportedly been target of police for various offenses.
Police describes the abduction as “tiger kidnapping”, as the goal was to grab as much money as possible in as few hours as possible.
The kidnapping
The victim was kidnapped at a car repair station on Hymettus on May 6 and was forcibly pushed into a car that took him to the south suburbs of the Greek capital.
The amount they were asking from the 23-year-old’s family, who owns jewelry stores, was 25,000 euros in cash and a large-displacement motorcycle also worth 25,000 euros. Finally, it was agreed that the victim’s family would leave an envelope with 15,000 euros in cash in a field in Glyfada.
During the abduction, the victim was was subjected to physical violence including stabbing his body with screwdrivers and threats that his fingers would be cut off. At some point, one of the perpetrators drove him to a beach and threatened him with a pistol.
After the agreement with the young man’s family, perpetrators and victim boarded a second car and drove to Glyfada area. There, the driver stopped for a few minutes, with the 23-year-old opening the door and running away.
During the abduction, the perpetrators stole from a victim 700 euros in cash and a luxury watch worth over €20,000.
The victim went to police a couple of days later.
On Saturday, authorities filed a cased against them for kidnapping, extortion, robbery, dangerous bodily harm, violation of the law on weapons and explosives committed within the framework of an established gang, violence against officials and judicial persons, violation of residence restrictions, violation of the law on flares and fireworks and forgery.
It has been revealed that the gang was also involved in offering “protection” to various businesses in the south suburbs of Athens.
