The National Police have arrested two men in Madrid who last Monday pulled a businessman into a van and tried to steal his cryptocurrency keys as he left a restaurant on Calle Claudio Coello in the city after supper.
Witnesses who saw the kidnapping warned the police, who were able to find the van in the Atocha area. Its GPS showed that it was headed to Petrer (Alicante). They were able to arrest two of the three alleged kidnappers, who were between the ages of 32 and 45.
The officers took plastic cable ties from the van, which they used to tie up the kidnapped man. They also took a blister pack of medicines that they presumably administered to the 33-year-old businessman, who was hurt and had to go to the hospital.
The police sources said that the van’s GPS showed Petrer as the destination. They also said that in this kind of “express kidnapping,” the thieves normally drive the victim out of the city where the kidnapping happens very soon.
The inmates tried to steal the victim’s expensive watch, but their real goal was to get the keys to his bitcoins.
The arrested men, who are thought to be members of a Serbian gang, travelled from Barcelona to Madrid. Investigators think they were already keeping an eye on the victim and may have known he was going to Madrid to make a cryptocurrency transaction.
