Overview
- Police negotiators located the hostage and secured his release in under 72 hours without paying a ransom after kidnappers sent videos showing him being beaten.
- The extortion began with the theft of four pit bull puppies and escalated to a demand of 800,000 Norwegian kroner, with threats sent to a relative in Norway and a friend in Alicante.
- The investigation started when Norway’s liaison officer in Spain alerted the National Police’s 24‑hour kidnapping and extortion line, enabling officers to control communications with the captors.
- Four suspects were arrested in a shopping‑center parking lot in Alicante, where one carried the victim’s ID and another wore the same shoes seen in the abuse videos; the victim was treated for facial and chest injuries.
- Authorities initially reported three suspects were remanded to provisional prison, but court records cited by ABC indicate all four were released on January 14 as the judicial probe into the Swedish Dalen network continues.