It seemed like the appointment was going to be quick and easy. A transaction in which both parties came out a winner. Ramón SJ called David M. to propose the sale of a Mercedes he owned for 13,000 euros. The two men agreed to meet on Lola Flores Street, in an industrial area in the San Blas district, near the Madrid-Barajas airport. David came on January 17, 2024 accompanied by his uncle, José Antonio V., who would be in charge of driving the newly acquired vehicle. But neither uncle nor nephew went anywhere that day, but rather they remained kidnapped in the drug hotel located in front of the meeting place, an abandoned complex famous for having been accidental deaths and attacks of all kinds.
Ramón and another man threatened them with a gun and a knife as soon as they arrived. They took them to one of the dozens of cars in one of the buildings, they stole the money with which they were going to purchase the Mercedes and demanded that they call their relatives to give them more, much more. The story of that day and a half is recorded in the ruling of the Provincial Court of Madrid that has just condemned two men and a woman for kidnapping, threatening and robbing David and his uncle. For making them go through 36 hours of real terror.
The three convicts, helped by other people, sat the two victims on a worn sofa and took their cell phones. One of the perpetrators of the ambush also kept the BMW in which they had arrived at the meeting. The two men asked them to let them go, while David called his wife on the phone to tell her to give their captors 80,000 euros as soon as possible. The kidnappers threatened the men with mutilations and even death. Among those holding the victims was Ibrahim E.
The family of David and José Antonio did not manage to raise the 80,000 euros in such a short time, but a friend did get 14,000 euros in cash. The kidnappers agreed to meet him in San Fernando de Henares so that he could deliver that sum to them. Ramón and Dolores de los Ángeles J., who was the one who took the bag with the bills, drove to that point. But the kidnappers still wanted more and demanded 100,000 euros more from those held captive.
This time, David’s wife managed to raise 80,000 euros and met the attackers at a point on the A2 near Barajas after one in the morning. The confinement was about to begin its second day. The money was collected by a minor hired for this mission by Ramón, who handed the bag to the extortionists, who were waiting on the other side of the road. What they didn’t know was that the police were already aware of everything and had marked several bills with a characteristic mark, invisible to outsiders.
After this second delivery, the captors let David and José Antonio go. The agents were closely monitoring the people involved in the kidnapping and just one hour after the victims were released, they stopped the car in which five people suspected of being involved in the extortion were traveling. Inside the vehicle was a bag with bills, many of which were those marked by police investigators.
Ramón S. and Ibrahim E. were sentenced to 11 years in prison for kidnapping and robbery. Dolores de los Ángeles J. received the sentence of three and a half years in prison for being considered an accomplice. The court applied a mitigating circumstance to Ramón, as it had been proven that he suffers from schizophrenia and this altered his perception of the facts. Three other people were accused in the trial and were acquitted as their participation in the events had not been proven. They were those who accompanied the main accused in the car when they were arrested.
