Chloe Ayling: Polish man arrested after British model's nightmare kidnapping in Italy
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Chloe Ayling's ordeal sounds like a tale spawned by nightmares of the evil that lurks online.
The 20-year-old British model said she was lured to Italy with the promise of a photo shoot, then drugged, stuffed into a suitcase, transported to an isolated farmhouse and held, at times in handcuffs, for almost a week.
Ms Ayling has told police the "terrifying experience" ended when her captor, who had threatened to hold her for ransom or advertise her as sex slave on the dark web, decided instead to drop her off at the British consulate in Milan.
Italian police have arrested a 30-year-old Polish man, who claimed to be a paid killer for a group called the Black Death, in relation to the case.
Francesco Pesce, the lawyer Ms Ayling has while the case is under investigation — which is a standard procedure in Italy — acknowledged that aspects of the case seem bizarre.
"A man kidnaps, together with others, a girl, and after a week, citing particular reasons, accompanies her inside a consulate," he told reporters.
"This at first was doubted also by investigators, but the story later turned out to be true."
Knocked out with ketamine injection
The model went to Milan on July 11 for a photo shoot at what her agent, Phil Green, said was "a recognised studio in the city centre".
When she got there, her lawyer said, a man grabbed her by the neck while another injected her with a dose of the anaesthetic ketamine "strong enough to knock her to the ground".
"Then she was stuffed in a black sports bag, like she was an object, and then transported over winding, unpaved roads for more than two hours … bound hand and foot and with tape across her mouth," Mr Pesce said.
Milan police said Ms Ayling was taken to a rural house near Turin in northern Italy, where she was kept handcuffed to a wooden dresser.
They said the suspect in custody, Lukasz Pawel Herba, advertised her "sale" online, while at the same time demanding a $US300,000 ($380,000) ransom from her agent.
Authorities said as far as they knew, no ransom was paid.
Released after captor learns of child
On July 17, Ms Ayling was dropped off at the British consulate in Milan, and the next day police arrested Herba, who is a Polish citizen with British residency.
Milan police officer Lorenzo Bucossi said Herba described himself as a "paid killer" for a mercenary organisation, however others have suggested he is a fantasist.
According to Italian media reports, Ms Ayling said she was released when her captor discovered she had a small child — he said abducting a mother was against the rules of his organisation.
On Sunday, almost three weeks after she says she was released, Ms Ayling returned to Britain.
Mr Green said Italian police held her passport and would not let her leave the country until she gave evidence at a pre-trial hearing and visited the crime scene with detectives last week.
"I've been through a terrifying experience," Ms Ayling told reporters.
"I've feared for my life, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour."
Mr Green, who runs the Supermodel Agency with which Ms Ayling is affiliated, said on Monday that she was undergoing "debriefing" with government officials and the police and could not speak further to the press.
He asked the media to "respect the fact she does need some time alone".
AP
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, police, italy, united-kingdom
