British model kidnapped and ‘auctioned on dark web’ in Milan

A Polish man has been jailed in the kidnapping of a British model held captive in northern Italy for six days last month, police said on Saturday. 

Milan police said the man, who holds British residence, was arrested on a charge of suspected kidnapping for extortion purposes. They didn’t release his identity. 

Police official Lorenzo Bucossi told reporters the 20-year-old woman had come to Milan for a photo shoot, apparently a phony setup, and was abducted on 11 July. 

Based on court documents, Corriere della Sera reported the woman was drugged by her abductor and held in a small town in the northwestern Piedmont region of Italy. At one point, the newspaper said, the woman was told she could be freed upon payment of €50,000. 

The report said investigators are also exploring the possibility the woman was abducted so she could be auctioned off online as a sex slave. 

Corriere said the suspect discovered she had a young child and considered her unsuitable for sex trafficking. Bucossi said the suspect dropped her off near the British Consulate in Milan on 17 July, but it wasn’t clear why the kidnapping ended. 

Whether the suspect had accomplices is also under investigation.