Two British men have been arrested in Benidorm for allegedly staging a kidnapping to demand a ransom of €830 (£728) from a relative.
Spanish National Police said the men, aged 37 and 51, were detained inside a hotel in the city in Alicante, southwestern Spain, on Thursday.
Police said they sent a relative in the UK several videos in which one of them appeared bloodied and was being threatened with a knife.
Benidorm police officers launched an investigation in collaboration with Interpol, the British Consulate and the Kidnapping and Extortion Unit of the General Police Headquarters in Madrid.
During a raid of the hotel, officers saw two individuals matching the descriptions of the suspect and victim leaving the premises.
“The two men were conversing in a cordial and friendly manner,” police said.
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The pair were arrested on charges of fraud and impersonating a kidnapper.
The man allegedly posing as the kidnapper was also charged with identity theft because he had registered as a guest under a false name, police added.
