Malaga provincial court sentences three defendants to six years in prison for kidnapping two young men

The incident started when the victims drove a Mercedes to a petrol station in the city of Malaga, where they had arranged to meet the three defendants. After parking their car, they got into the defendants' BMW and travelled together to a house under construction on a plot of land in the Carlinda area.

During the journey, one of the victims, sensing danger, sent his brother-in-law two location updates via his mobile phone: the first from the petrol station at 8.29pm and the second at 8.44pm, pinpointing an exact spot in the field.

The house under construction that they arrived at is right next to the defendants' home. The situation began to turn violent upon their arrival.

For reasons which the investigation has been unable to establish, the three defendants threatened the victims with a penknife. They demanded 50,000 euros to let them go, warning them that they would end up "in a water tank" if they did not pay.

Before snatching their belongings and mobile phones, they allowed them to make one last desperate call. At 9.38pm, the victim contacted his brother-in-law again to ask for the ransom money. This was the last time the two spoke.

Immediately afterwards, both men were forced to climb down into a cistern, where they were trapped beneath a structure made of sacks of cement and scaffolding.

While the victims remained locked in, the kidnappers took a break. At around 10.48pm, the partner of one of the defendants ordered a meal delivery from a well-known Asian chain.

The ruling acquits the woman as it has not been proven that she knew there were two people held captive just a few metres away.

Just after midnight on 20 January, one of the victims' family went to the police station to report the incident and showed the exact coordinates they had received hours earlier. The National Police immediately launched two parallel operations which led to the resolution of the case.

At 12.45am, the police intercepted the BMW. The front-seat passenger got out with the victims' car keys, ready to unlock it, at which point the police arrested him and the driver. Inside the car, the police found the mobile phone that the victim had used to send the location.

Barely an hour later, at 1.45am, the second police team heard cries for help as they approached the house under construction. After gaining access to a room at the back of the house and removing the sacks of cement, they freed the two hostages.

The provincial court's ruling sentences the three defendants to six years' imprisonment and orders them to pay the costs of the proceedings. However, it acquits them of the minor offences of causing minor injuries and grants a full acquittal to the woman who placed the food order. The ruling is not yet final.

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