A man in Spain tried to fake his own kidnapping for the purpose of extorting ransom money from his parents.
The unnamed man from Cartagena, in the south-east, was arrested after the police became suspicious.
The man’s father contacted the police on Friday, telling them that a kidnapper was demanding a ransom for their son’s release. The father and mother had both received several threats, including one in which the son’s life was threatened and his legs “chopped off”.
At one point, they even spoke to their son and he urged them to pay up or else “they were going to kill” him.
The police quickly launched a search operation, drafting in a police negotiator to deal with the ‘captors’. While the investigation was in full swing, the son suddenly returned home. His parents reported him “safe and well”.
Police suspicions were aroused.
The son and an accomplice had mounted the scam. The accomplice was the chief of a local poker den where the son’s gambling debts had mounted. It was he who had been calling the parents.
The son told the police that he faked the kidnap. Both he and the accomplice are in prison waiting to be charged.
