Police are currently hunting possible accomplices to the primary suspect in the bizarre kidnapping case of Chloe Ayling, the 20-year-old British model who was drugged and kidnapped at what she thought was a photoshoot.
Polish national Lukasz Pawel Herba was arrested on July 18th, and charged with abduction and illegal imprisonment by Italian police. Ayling had been dropped off at the British consulate in Milan after being missing for nearly a week.
Police are trying to establish Herba’s motivations, and whether he was working with anyone else. Much of the coverage of the case has focused on an alleged dark web syndicate named Black Death Group – but there is no hard evidence that such a group was actually involved.
Herba did tell investigators that he was working with the so-called international crime gang, which has been discussed in internet conspiracy communities for years, but Italian police have also said that he is likely a “fantasist”.
The UK’s National Crime Agency, who are assisting with the case, said that it is pretty rare to see cases of human trafficking organised over the dark web, and they do not list it as a primary threat when it comes to the very real problem of human trafficking.
“His version of events is barely credible but clearly he does not deny that he was with her for the time she was missing,” Milan deputy prosecutor Paolo Storari said.
Fantasist or not, what is clear is that he is a very dangerous man who drugged his victim as soon as she was kidnapped and put her inside a large travel bag in the boot of a car.
A Motherboard investigation into the Black Death Group back in 2015 was inconclusive – though a dark web site which allegedly purported to sell women was found, at least several of the photos used were pulled from porn movies, as helpfully pointed out by a number of commenters.
Additionally, Europol has confirmed that they have only one mention of a group named Black Death in its database, which is not proof that the group actually exists.
Lorenzo Bucossi, a Milan police official, confirmed that “demands for a ransom were sent from [Herba’s] computer,” but couldn’t confirm whether he was operating as part of a group or made the whole thing up. That said, he did confirm that regardless, he is “certainly a dangerous person and carried out a real kidnap.”
We’ll keep you posted.
