Ten days kidnapped for the loss of a shipment of more than 500 kilos of cocaine

BarcelonaThis summer, a truck carrying more than 500 kilos of cocaine from Portugal disappeared in the State. The cargo was valued at around 30 million euros and its disappearance generated a climate of extreme distrust among the members of the drug trafficking network responsible for the drug. The head of the organization had commissioned the transport to a driver, but he resorted to a third person to carry out the transfer. However, during the journey, the latter fled and hid. Since the intermediary could not explain where the merchandise was, the person in charge of the operation held him responsible for the loss and violently kidnapped him at the end of July. After ten days of being held against his will, the National Police released him in Caldes de Montbui.

The detainee, who showed clear signs of violence after being repeatedly beaten, was rescued when his kidnapper was taking him in a vehicle towards a mountainous and isolated area. As the National Police explained this Thursday, when the agents intervened to release him, the kidnapper tried to ram them and attempted to draw a pistol he was carrying hidden in his fanny pack, but he did not avoid his arrest. He was quickly neutralized, disarmed, and immobilized by the agents, who arrested him immediately and freed the victim, putting an end to ten days of captivity. Finally, the kidnapper was placed at the disposal of the judicial authority as the alleged perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping and illegal possession of weapons.

Video with death threats

The investigation began on August 7. The police received a tip from Romanian authorities (both the kidnapped person and the driver who fled are Romanian) about a video circulating among some transporters in that country. The images showed a kidnapped person held at gunpoint and were accompanied by a threatening message demanding to find the truck where the drugs were. If not, they would kill their colleague. After numerous efforts, and within the framework of the operation established around the investigated individuals, the agents detected an industrial warehouse located in Sabadell where they suspected the victim could be hidden.

Finally, under police pressure, the suspect abandoned the site and took the victim with him, using the intention to release her in an isolated area as a pretext to justify the movement. The agents managed to identify and locate the vehicle in the vicinity of Caldes de Montbui, where the driver disregarded the agents' warnings and attempted to ram them on several occasions.