PARIS, May 5 — French police arrested seven individuals following a weekend raid to rescue a man who had been kidnapped in Paris as part of an attempt to extort a ransom from his crypto-millionaire son, prosecutors stated.
PARIS, May 5 — French police arrested seven individuals following a weekend raid to rescue a man who had been kidnapped in Paris as part of an attempt to extort a ransom from his crypto-millionaire son, prosecutors stated.
The victim, whose identity remains undisclosed, was located at an address in the Essonne department, south of Paris, which police raided late Saturday, according to the prosecutors' office.
He had been abducted in the 14th arrondissement of Paris on Thursday morning.
A police officer, speaking anonymously to AFP, reported that four men wearing ski masks forced the victim into a delivery van as bystanders looked on.
“The victim is believed to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, and the crime was related to a ransom demand,” said the prosecutors' statement.
While prosecutors did not reveal the amount of ransom requested, Le Parisien newspaper reported that the kidnappers had demanded between €5 million and €7 million (RM24.02 million to RM33.63 million). Authorities confirmed no ransom was paid.
A source close to the investigation informed AFP that one of the victim's fingers had been severed.
“There were concerns about further mutilations” if police had not conducted the raid, the source said.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau praised the “decisive” police operation to free the victim in a message on X.
Kidnapping, torture, blackmail
The victim's wife informed investigators that both her husband and the wealthy son, who co-owned a crypto marketing firm in Malta, had previously received threats, a police source revealed.
Supported by the French police’s cybercrime unit, anti-gang investigators are looking into the suspects for charges including conspiracy to commit unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, torture, blackmail, and armed extortion.
This kidnapping follows a similar incident on January 21, when a French crypto executive and his partner were abducted.
That victim, David Balland, co-founded the crypto company Ledger, valued at over US$1 billion (RM4.2 billion) at the time.
Balland's finger was also severed by his kidnappers, who demanded a substantial ransom.
He was released the following day, and his girlfriend was discovered bound in the trunk of a car in the Essonne suburb of Paris.
None of the suspects from that case is under investigation, including the suspected ringleader, a 26-year-old with a history of kidnapping charges.
Earlier in January, a 56-year-old man was found in the trunk of a car near Mans, with reports suggesting he was the father of a Dubai-based crypto-influencer who had boasted online about his earnings. — AFP
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