Police in Spain have arrested 15 drug traffickers who kidnapped four men over the theft of a stash of drugs and tortured them for information until one nearly died.
Officers from the National Police arrested the suspects in raids across the municipalities of Marbella, Benhavis, and Estepona.
One of the raids can be seen in this police footage.
During the raids, officers seized 937 kilogrammes (2,066 lb) of hashish, 53 ecstasy pills, narcotics, a pistol, ammunition, balaclavas, about EUR 50,000 (GBP 44,000) in cash, multiple vehicles, and forged numberplates.
Chillingly, the gang had kidnapped four men in Marbella over the alleged theft of 1,500 kilogrammes of hashish.
On 2nd December, six to eight armed individuals arrived at the home of one of the victims, where they tied the men up, put them in a van, and drove them to a villa in another area of the city.
During their captivity, the gang beat them, threatened them, and deprived them of food and medicine in order to get information about the whereabouts of the missing stash.
They also contacted their relatives and demanded they make ransom payments totalling EUR 5 million (GBP 4.4 million) for their release.
Officers began searching for the men after receiving four missing persons reports on 4th and 5th December.
Over the course of the investigations, the suspects released two of their captives, one of whom had fallen into a diabetic coma and went on to spend a month in hospital.
Investigations finally led the officers to the villa, where they arrested four armed suspects and freed the remaining kidnapped victims, who were tied up and had multiple injuries.
The operation ended with 11 more arrests, the National Police reported on 23rd March.
The suspects are variously accused of kidnapping, belonging to a criminal organisation, illegal possession of weapons, aggravated robbery, vehicle theft, forging documents, and causing injury.
