In Tenerife, during the Santero operation, Civil Guard agents arrested five members of the same family who extorted money from a woman by fabricating a kidnapping of her daughter.
Following the receipt of a video showing the young woman with her mouth open and a knife at her neck, the victim withdrew 50,000 euros from a bank to secure her daughter’s release.
The footage depicted the daughter and the alleged kidnapper with fake bloodstains on their faces, demanding the cash be delivered at a location chosen by the individuals behind the scheme.
Investigators later established that the victim had already been manipulated on at least three prior occasions, handing over a total of 45,000 euros after receiving threats against her daughter in three separate letters.
Given the circumstances, investigators focused on the area nearest to the alleged victim and uncovered the involvement of her partner’s family in the events.
Following a thorough review of the information, the kidnapping protocol was activated with specialists from the Central Operations Unit, and the situation was escalated accordingly.
A special response module of the GRS-8 was alerted to respond if a hostage extraction became necessary, as reported by the Civil Guard in a press release.
When authorities closed in, they found that the young woman was in good condition and had not been deprived of her freedom. Five individuals were arrested on charges of simulated kidnapping and blackmail.
At the moment of the arrest, the person depicted in the video and a member of his wife’s family were at a game room nearby.
fast resolution
The case was resolved in under 24 hours. During a home search, investigators recovered tools used to stage kidnappings, a large white firearm, a gagging cloth, and a bottle containing artificial blood.
The operation was coordinated by the Provincial Court of Tenerife’s Prosecutor’s Office, under the supervision of the Civil Court of First Instance and Granadilla de Abona’s Directive No. 2. It was carried out by the Crimes Against Persons Team and the District Team, with support from the Judicial Police’s Photography Unit, the Central Operations Unit, and the Special Response Module. Additional units from the Playa de Las Américas Civil Guard, the Kidnapping Group, and the Operational Technical Support Group contributed to the investigation.