The Guardia Civil have arrested five members of the same family in Las Chafiras in the south of Tenerife, for trying to extort money from a woman by simulating the kidnapping of her daughter, by sending her a video that showed her daughter tied up, gagged, and with a knife to her throat pleading for 50,000 euros ransom money for her release, which her mother withdrew in cash from the bank.
In the video, the daughter appears with fake blood stains on her face, demanding payment in cash, which had to be delivered to a specific place determined by the alleged kidnappers.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
However, this is the fourth time that the mother has received death threats for her daughter’s life, so after drawing out the money, she went to the police who immediately started an investigation. On the three previous occasions, she had delivered a total of 45,000 euros, after receiving letters with threats against her daughter.
For various reasons, the police focused their investigations on the family of the allegedly kidnapped young woman, determining the involvement of her sentimental partner in the events. Once the information was analysed, the kidnapping protocol was activated, with specialists from the Central Operations Unit.
A special intervention unit of the GRS-8 was also activated, which remained on alert in case its intervention was necessary for the release of the hostage, according to the Guardia Civil press release.
When the agents discovered that the young woman was actually unharmed and was not being held captive, five people were arrested for the criminal offenses of simulation of kidnapping and extortion. At the time of the arrest, the protagonist of the video and her partner's family were in an amusement arcade.
The agents solved the case in less than 24 hours and in a house search the Guardia Civil found the tools used for the simulation of the kidnapping, a large knife, the handkerchief with which the woman was tied and gagged, and a bottle of artificial blood.
The operation, under the direction of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Granadilla de Abona, and coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Provincial Court of Tenerife, was carried out by the Territorial Team of Judicial Police of Las Americas.
