The Mossos d’Esquadra together with the National Police and the Portuguese Judicial Police, coordinated by Europol, have arrested nine people in the provinces of Malaga, Murcia and Alicante, accused of kidnapping an 82-year-old businessman in Portugal, who was released tied to a tree in Collbató (Barcelona), and from another frustrated kidnapping attempt.

Of the nine detainees, five have been arrested in Torremolinos (Málaga) and the other four in Alicante, Sucina (Murcia) and Málaga, and they are charged with the crimes of kidnapping, robbery with violence and belonging to a criminal group.

The investigation of the so-called Luso operation began on August 25 with the help of Europol following the first kidnapping of an 82-year-old businessman in Almacil (Portugal), from whom they managed to steal around 100,000 euros.

As reported this Thursday at a press conference by Mossos d’Esquadra inspector Rafael Montes, the victim explained that he had been assaulted and forced to go to the back of his car, so that the attackers could drive the vehicle.

During the approximately 20 hours it took to cover the 1,200 kilometers that separate Almancil from Collbató, the kidnappers beat and threatened the man to get his bank codes and initiate large movements of money.

The victim, who was found disoriented by a resident of Collbató on a secondary road, had bruises, superficial injuries and hematomas, which immediately alerted the local authorities.

The victim, once he had overcome the language barrier, explained that the kidnappers had left him tied to a tree after transporting him from Portugal.

The vehicle was found days later correctly parked in a parking lot at Barcelona Airport, which made it possible to obtain images of the perpetrators and access the vehicle so that the scientific police could analyze it for fingerprints.

Inspector Rafael Montes has emphasized the importance of studying continuous money transfers to different accounts, because the criminals operated with banking entities, all through the Internet, opened with false documents, to try to make it difficult to trace the money.

In addition, the detainees, of Brazilian nationality and between 24 and 25 years old, used the victim’s credit cards to make purchases in restaurants and electronics stores.

The security forces estimate the money stolen from the victim at around 100,000 euros, and are in legal proceedings to recover part of the capital, which was transferred to entities located in France and Lithuania.

Throughout the kidnapping, the perpetrators made up to 52 bank transfers, in addition to different stops at ATMs and stores where they used the victim’s credit cards.

Portuguese Judicial Police inspector Batista Correira explained that the gang selected victims with very high assets and money in their checking accounts and followed their steps over a period of time, in addition to seeking exhaustive information.

The arrests were sparked by a failed kidnapping attempt on a woman on December 11 when, before arriving at her home in Setúbal (Portugal), a vehicle appeared, from which two people got out, and threatened her with a firearm in an attempt to put it in the back of her car.

Alerted by the woman’s screams, her partner came out and struggled with the kidnappers, who ended up giving up kidnapping, but fled with the victim’s vehicle.

The woman reported the theft of her vehicle and, thanks to its GPS, the car could be located in Torremolinos, along with the five perpetrators of the kidnapping attempt.

After this event, the security forces carried out seven searches of homes in which they found a firearm, two simulated firearms, telephones, falsified documentation, zip ties, clothing from the day of the kidnapping and a printer specialized in printing documentation.

The inspector of the National Police of the Udyco of Alicante Juan Castillo has explained the difficulties they encountered in carrying out the searches and arrests, since the criminals “were never at home or together, they went to France, to Portugal.”

Among the nine detainees are two of the three material authors of the first kidnapping, who have been imprisoned in Alicante, while the third was already in prison for an attempted robbery with violence in a brothel in Alicante.

The other members of the gang, considered a support group and in charge of the fraudulent banking transactions, have been released with charges.