A Brit was kidnapped while on vacation in Italy.
With a secret message in a demand text message, he was able to warn his father and thus get free.
The story of a 25-year-old Brit sounds like something out of a TV thriller: he was kidnapped while on vacation in Italy and held for days under dire conditions.
Nevertheless, he managed to hide a secret message in a text message to his father that ultimately led to his liberation.
Tourist kidnapped on vacation in Italy: "He was a smart guy"
According to the English Times, the young man is a wealthy tourist who has been vacationing in Italy since the beginning of June.
Then the shock: He was kidnapped.
His kidnappers held him prisoner for eight days, apparently under dire conditions.
So he only got leftovers to eat - if at all.
He was ultimately found handcuffed and barefoot in a dark room in a village.
The windows and doors were reportedly barricaded.
The martyrdom would have lasted even longer if the young man hadn't known how to help himself: "He was a smart guy," the Times quoted an Italian Carabinieri as saying.
Accordingly, the Londoner could take advantage of a situation to ask for help in England.
Kidnapping on vacation in Italy: Young man can make a hidden call for help
The kidnappers had not made a real ransom demand - so the wealthy family did not know about the kidnapping either.
However, the perpetrators briefly gave the young man a cell phone: They asked him to transfer almost 7,000 euros - as an injection of money for his vacation.
While writing this SMS, the Londoner was able to hide a secret help message for his father.
The kidnappers apparently did not discover the message, but the father noticed it directly.
He then notified the authorities.
It then took just under 1.5 days until the police were able to find the apartment in which the young man had been held.
The block where the apartment was located was surrounded by the police.
During the raid, not only could the kidnapper be freed, but the suspected kidnappers were also arrested.
The police arrested four men in their mid-twenties.
According to the police, the abductee is doing well under the circumstances - he is "exhausted" but on the mend.
(rjs)
A dog was also missing after a vacation in Italy: it made it back home and ran 380 kilometers for it.
