A 74-year-old man from Isère, France, was kidnapped on January 25 and subjected to 16 hours of illegal detention and severe abuse, according to Foresight News. The man was moved to a bar in the Drôme region, where he suffered facial cuts and had a finger severed. The kidnappers mistakenly believed his son was a cryptocurrency millionaire and demanded a ransom of 3 million euros in cryptocurrency, sending videos of the abuse via encrypted communication to exert pressure.
Police apprehended three suspects in their twenties in the Rhône Valley area. The individuals have been formally charged and detained on counts of organized kidnapping, torture, and barbaric acts. Investigations suggest the suspects may have been acting under someone else's instructions.