Italian police on Tuesday arrested
three people on charges of faking the kidnapping of a
businessman from the northern town of Brescia who was then
however sold on to an Al Qaeda linked group who kept him in
Syria from 2016 until his liberation in 2019.
The businessman, Alessandro Sandrini, allegedly agreed with the
three on the bogus kidnapping to get the ranson money but after
he was taken to Turkey he was sold to the terrorist group,
police said.
The gang of three is accused of kidnapping for terror purposes
while Sandrini has been charged with simulating a crime and
fraud.
Those arrested are two Albanians, Fredi Frrokaj and Olsi Mitraj,
and an Italian, Alberto Zannini.
Sandrini and another Brescian businessman who is not under
investigation, Sergio Zanotti, were handed over to the
Turkestan Islamic Party, police said.
The three alleged kidnappers acted with other, unknown
individuals in Italy, Turkey and Syria, police said.
The gang also approached a third, unnamed businessman and
proposed a fake kidnapping to him too, police said.
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