French prosecutors mentioned on Monday that the police had arrested seven individuals over the weekend in reference to the kidnapping of the daddy of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, including that the captive had been freed.
In an announcement, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace mentioned it had been knowledgeable on Thursday {that a} man had been kidnapped in Paris and held with “a ransom demand.” The workplace didn’t identify the kidnapped man.
The captive, who had been held in a house in Essonne, an space to the south of Paris, was freed by the police on Saturday night, the assertion mentioned. It added, with out offering additional particulars, that the person was injured and had been taken for medical remedy.
The prosecutor’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to questions concerning the nature of the captive’s accidents or concerning the quantity of the demand.
The police arrested 4 individuals “in or close to the house the place the sufferer was being held captive” in the course of the operation on Saturday and a fifth one who was “driving one of many automobiles seemingly utilized by the perpetrators,” the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned. Two extra individuals have been arrested on Sunday, the assertion added.
In a social media post, Bruno Retailleau, the French inside minister, wrote, “An enormous congratulations to the investigators who did an distinctive job releasing this man and arresting his captors.”
The case was the most recent high-profile kidnapping in France linked to cryptocurrency.
In January, the police freed David Balland, a crypto entrepreneur, and his spouse, who had been kidnapped and held for ransom for 2 days.
Mr. Balland is a founding father of Ledger, which sells bodily units to retailer crypto property. He was hospitalized as a result of the abductors had mutilated his hand, Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, mentioned on the time. His spouse had been tied up in a automotive however was in any other case unharmed, Ms. Beccuau added.
A number of weeks earlier, a person and his household had been held hostage in France by a gaggle that needed to blackmail his son, a crypto influencer dwelling in Dubai, French news media reported.
Prosecutors didn’t instantly reply to questions on Monday asking if there have been connections between the kidnapping final week and different abductions linked to cryptocurrency.
