Yzabelle Bostyn
A MARBELLA man has gone through hell at the hands of the French mafia after he refused to sell them his business, enduring beatings, kidnappings and torture .
National police have detained seven men belonging to the ‘extremely violent’ gang.
The victim, a 37-year-old business owner from Marbella, was first approached by the gang in June this year when they offered to buy his company.
He refused, also negating to pay the €5000 demanded by the gang for ‘control’ of the business he had been running for a few months.
Little did he know, the encounter would lead to a week of horrific attacks.
At the hands of the gang, the man suffered extortion, brutal beatings and two kidnappings.
In one incident, the man was tied up, dragged from his business and put in the boot of a car.
Then, once at a wooded area, the man was beaten, burnt and threatened with death for hours.
Once released in a Fuengirola shopping centre, the man was so scared he did not even go to hospital for his injuries.
Instead, the victim went straight to the police to report the crimes but was attacked just a week later when the assailants arrived at his business and kidnapped him at gunpoint.
Again, the man was beaten and returned to a Marbella police station, bruised and bloody, to report the crime.
In July, police began ‘Operation Tanger’, to locate the attackers, investigating properties in Alhaurín de la Torre, Mijas, Benalmádena and Vélez-Málaga.
The investigation involved many forces including the forensic investigation department, special security forces and air agents.
Now, police have arrested the suspects, all French nationals between 29 and 50 years old.
According to the police, the gang was also involved in robberies and was found with 22 kilos of marijuana, 6 kilos of hashish, two vehicles with replaced number plates and many firearms.
They are under suspicion of kidnapping, grievous bodily harm, belonging to a criminal organisation, drugs trafficking and being in possession of illegal firearms.
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