Kidnapped daughter of gang boss released
Source: Agencies |
April 23, 2013, Tuesday
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THE 11-year-old daughter of a convicted Bulgarian gangland boss has been freed, seven weeks after being kidnapped on the way to school, police said yesterday.
Lara - the daughter of Evelin Banev who is serving a jail sentence for laundering profits from drug deals - was left near a police station in central Sofia late on Sunday and was in good health, police said.
They declined to give a reason for release, though local media reported that a ransom of 500,000 euros (US$654,000) had been paid to kidnappers.
"Work on the case continues and will continue until those who caused all this have been found," Interim Deputy Interior Minister Filip Gunev told Bulgarian national radio.
Banev, 49, was arrested in Italy last May in an international police operation dubbed "Cocaine Kingpins" involving Bulgarian, Italian, French, Swiss and Spanish authorities. Italian police alleged that his gang had been smuggling around 40 tons of cocaine into Italy per year.
Last month, three men stopped a car taking Banev's daughter to school, shot and wounded its driver and abducted the girl.
In February a Bulgarian court sentenced Banev, nicknamed "Brendo," to seven-and-a-half years in jail for laundering drug-dealing profits of over 2 million euros. Italy handed him to Bulgaria for that trial but he is now back in a prison in Italy, where he is on trial for drug trafficking.
Lara - the daughter of Evelin Banev who is serving a jail sentence for laundering profits from drug deals - was left near a police station in central Sofia late on Sunday and was in good health, police said.
They declined to give a reason for release, though local media reported that a ransom of 500,000 euros (US$654,000) had been paid to kidnappers.
"Work on the case continues and will continue until those who caused all this have been found," Interim Deputy Interior Minister Filip Gunev told Bulgarian national radio.
Banev, 49, was arrested in Italy last May in an international police operation dubbed "Cocaine Kingpins" involving Bulgarian, Italian, French, Swiss and Spanish authorities. Italian police alleged that his gang had been smuggling around 40 tons of cocaine into Italy per year.
Last month, three men stopped a car taking Banev's daughter to school, shot and wounded its driver and abducted the girl.
In February a Bulgarian court sentenced Banev, nicknamed "Brendo," to seven-and-a-half years in jail for laundering drug-dealing profits of over 2 million euros. Italy handed him to Bulgaria for that trial but he is now back in a prison in Italy, where he is on trial for drug trafficking.
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