Two bungling Brits are accused of staging a bizarre fake kidnapping on one another to earn some extra holiday money.
Hostage negotiators were rushed to their hotel after the pair allegedly sent a relative a fake video of a ‘kidnapper’ threatening his blood-soaked friend with a knife.
The ‘kidnapper’ told panicking relations at hand over £725 or he would kill the terrified Brit.
Spanish police tipped off through Interpol prepared for an assault on the hotel they believed was ‘kidnap’ location.
However the raid was called off on the last moment after they saw the alleged victim strolling out of the resort along with his supposed captor.
After arresting the pair for simulating against the law and fraud, investigators revealed they may now face an enormous compensation demand for virtually paralysing police activity in the vacation getaway in addition to potential prison time.
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police in Alicante, confirming the dimensions of the operation launched after the phoney kidnapping to extort money, said: ‘Officers in Benidorm have arrested two British men aged 37 and 51 for simulating a kidnap with the aim of creating some quick money.
‘Our investigation began after a tip-off from Interpol in regards to the possible abduction of a British national within the resort.
‘A relative of the person who had apparently been kidnapped, who initially alerted authorities within the UK, said he had received videos through which the supposed victim was covered in blood and the alleged kidnapper was threatening him with a knife.
‘Officers contacted British consular officials in order that they could provide the pictures they’d received from the tipster.
‘The British authorities also provided recordings of conversations through which the ‘kidnapper’ made ransom demands saying the person he had hostage could be killed if the cash wasn’t paid.
‘All police resources available in Benidorm were mobilised to forestall the victim suffering any harm given the apparent severity of the situation.
‘A police unit with officers based in Madrid who specialised in coping with kidnaps and extortion were also mobilised.
‘They managed to ascertain direct phone contact with the relative of the person supposedly being held hostage who supplied a photograph of the alleged kidnapper and data suggesting that if £725 wasn’t paid into the abductor’s checking account the opposite person could be killed.
‘This happened as a lot of officers from Benidorm Police Station were called on to attempt to locate the ‘kidnap location’.
‘The place where the alleged abductor and his victim could possibly be was finally identified as a hotel in Benidorm where the person believed to be the kidnapper had checked in days earlier with one other British man.
‘A discreet watch was placed on the hotel and preparations were being made for a possible rescue when officers spotted two men coming out of the establishment whose descriptions matched those of the alleged kidnapper and his victim who were chatting in a relaxed and amicable way.
‘Each men were intercepted and identified.
‘It soon became apparent the kidnap had been staged with the aim of earning quick money and each were arrested on suspicion of simulating against the law and for fraud.
‘After they were being fingerprinted at a close-by police station, officers also discovered the supposed kidnapper had given a false name each when he checked into the hotel and when he identified himself to the police who arrested him.
‘He was subsequently read his rights for one more suspected crime of identity fraud.’
The hotel where they were staying has not been named.
Last April police arrested a British woman accused of masterminding the bungled robbery and kidnap near Benidorm of a wealthy former partner with the assistance of her ex-husband.
The trio, all from the UK, were placed on the centre of a criminal investigation which began with the detentions of two men following an armed break-in and took an unexpected twist days later with the imprisonment of the feminine suspect.
Police sources said on the time that they had evidence pointing to the unnamed woman instigating the crime after becoming saddled with debts and seeing her moneyed ex-lover as the answer to her financial problems.
Local reports said her ex-husband offered an alleged Portuguese accomplice EUROS 2,500 (POUNDS 2,150) to assist in giving someone ‘a fright.’
Two tasers, an air pistol, three defence sprays, a Balaclava, gloves, face masks and a roll of duct tape were seized by police after they made the primary two arrests.
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