Members of the criminal group who kidnapped a girl in Slavyansk and demanded 300 thousand dollars for her life are arrested, - reports communication department of the MDNP in Donetsk region.
29-year-old resident was kidnapped late in the evening on May 18th in the street. She came out of the building of the multi-stored buildings in Artem neighbourhood where her friend lived, but before she could walk a few meters to her car: four men took her to Gazel car and drove to an unknown destination.
An hour later the attackers came in touch with the civil husband of the hostage. They asked for a ransom of 300 thousand dollars. They named the place where they had left her things - a bag with documents and car keys. Her civil husband tried to conduct searches on his own for a few hours, he gathered friends and "fanned out" the city. In the end, the man called the police.
By order of the Chief of the MDNP in Donetsk oblast Vyacheslav Abroskin, group of experienced operatives headed by Sergey Kolesnik was sent to the north of the region.
In Slavyansk operatives deployed a kind of headquarters, used all service and operational strength of Slavyansk district and worked in several directions: conducted searches of the kidnapped woman, interviewed potential witnesses, followed suspects, worked at the entrances and exits of the city.
In the morning the operatives identified a possible car brand which took the young woman. They began a thorough to process information from CCTV cameras.
All the time the police were next to her husband and controlled talks with criminals.
The young man had a day to collect money for ransom. At first, the attackers demanded 40 thousand dollars - immediately, then gave time to the man to collect 50 thousand dollars. The final amount of the kidnappers’ demand was 300 thousand dollars. Attackers kept the man "on the hook", he was allowed to speak with the hostage on the phone. She was in hysterics. Several times they sent video of hostage blindfolded and her hands were tied, she begged to pay money.
On May 20th the police already knew who the organizer of the crime was, identified members of the group and worked out possible places of their deployment.
They found that the organizer of the kidnapping left the district and got in touch from different cities within a radius of 100 km from Slavyansk. Investigators received information that the prisoner was also taken out of the city.
"When during a conversation with hostage’s husband kidnappers stated that in case of the absence of a certain amount, they "will send the woman on the long-term storage", we decided to act, agreed to transfer money to save the life of the victim," - said Sergey Kolesnik.
Attackers “guided” the husband of the victim on the outskirts of Slavyansk for a couple of hours to determine the place of transfer of money. At that time, Sergey Kolesnik went to Kharkov region where a person resembling the kidnapping organizer was seen at the checkpoint.
The suspect was detained. It was a 32-year-old local resident who had been previously convicted for fraud. The attacker realized that the police had predicted all his steps. He named his accomplices and location of the hostage.
"Immediately after the kidnapping the hostage was held in a barn near the place of residence of the organizer of the crime. Then she was taken to the woods where she spent a day with her hands tied. The woman had a security guard who was waiting for the organizer's directions. We found and freed the hostage at about 4 am on May 22nd. Her security guard was detained on the spot," - said Colonel Kolesnik.
The young woman was exhausted, she spent more than 3 days with little or no food and water not knowing where and when help will come.
A few hours after the release, two other members of the criminal group were detained in Slavyansk. Their cache of money was found and seized.
Criminal proceedings under Part 2 Article 147 "Hostage-taking" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine were opened in regard to members of the criminal group. Sanction of the article provides for punishment of imprisonment for a term of 7 to 15 years.
On May 25th Slavyansk city court arrested the organizer of the kidnapping, determined a preventive measure in the form of detention in respect of his three accomplices.
Investigation is going on. It was found that a few days before the kidnapping criminals made a mistake and took another resident of the city. After realizing they were wrong, they let her go and threatened with death in the case of resorting to police. The victim did not dare to report on the crime until the police established it and offered protection. Criminal proceedings under Part 2 Article 146 "Illegal imprisonment or kidnapping of a person" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine were opened.