Man arrested after kidnapping model to 'sell her on the dark web'
A man has been arrested over the alleged kidnapping of a model who thought she was coming to Milan for a photoshoot, but was instead held on a $445,000 ransom.
The British woman, 20, was abducted on July 11 with police alleging she was "drugged, handcuffed" and kept in a Turin farmhouse for six days while her captor tried to sell her on the internet.
Polish man Lukasz Pawel Herba, 30, has been arrested and jailed while an investigation over kidnapping and extortion takes place.
After allegedly being drugged with ketamine, the woman was stuffed into a suitcase and driven to the farmhouse where she was kept for almost a week, police said.
According to police, Herba was in possession of a pamphlet about criminal syndicate Black Death, auctions off women for sex on the dark web.
Detectives are unclear as to whether Herba was serious about auctioning his victim or if it was simply a threat intended to extort £270,000 or AU$445,000 from the model's agent and family.
After realising she had given birth to a child, she was driven to safety by her captor as Black Death rules reportedly "exclude kidnapping mothers."
Police said the victim was given a letter from Black Death, explaining a "mistake" had been made.
Herba was arrested on July 17 and police are now searching for any associates.
"Fantasist or not, what is clear is that he is a very dangerous man who drugged his victim as soon as she was kidnapped and put her inside a large travel bag in the boot of a car," Milan deputy prosecutor Paolo Storari told a press conference.
"His version of events is barely credible but clearly he does not deny that he was with her for the time she was missing," Storari said.
