Woman held captive for several months in Kotka
|
|
A woman in her forties was held captive in a private apartment in Kotka for several months, the Kotka police suspect.
At the same time, tens of thousands of euros were extorted from the victim, while she was also forced to take out various kinds of loans in her own name.
The rare case is being investigated as aggravated deprivation of freedom and aggravated extortion.
The set of circumstances was revealed already on January 4th, when police conducted a house search in an apartment in Kotka. For investigational reasons, the police did not report on the matter until Thursday.
Two suspects, namely a Kotka woman in her forties and a roughly 35-year-old man from Northern Finland, have been remanded in custody.
One of the two primary suspects was arrested in connection with the house search. In addition, seven other persons have been questioned as suspects.
The woman who was held as a hostage in the apartment is not resident in Kotka. At this stage, the police have not revealed what the victim’s connection to the suspects is.
When found, the woman was in fairly good shape.
The police believe that first all the victim’s savings had been extorted from her, after which she was forced to take out various kinds of loans and to make hire purchase or other financial transactions under her own name.
In addition, the woman had been forced to take out telephone subscriptions, carrying phone bills of nearly EUR 10,000 over a few months.
According to the police, the woman had been kept as a prisoner in order that the series of crimes would not be discovered, as she could not tell anybody about the matter.
Helsingin Sanomat
