The brother of the chief suspect in the alleged kidnapping of British model Chloe Ayling is to fight extradition to Italy.
Ayling, 20, was believed to have been snatched by a group calling itself Black Death after being lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan last month.
The police’s chief suspect, Lukasz Herba, has said he did not knowingly take part in any crime.
On Wednesday, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said his brother, Michal Herba, had been arrested. The 36-year-old was detained by officers from West Midlands police and the East Midlands special operations unit (EMSOU) in the Tividale area of Sandwell, West Midlands.
Michal Herba was apprehended on a European arrest warrant issued by the Italian authorities; on Thursday London’s Westminster magistrates court heard that he would contest extradition.
Ayling, 20, was allegedly drugged and bundled into the boot of a car after being tricked into attending the bogus photoshoot in Milan on 11 July.
Poland-born Lukasz Herba, 30, is said to have planned the abduction. Italian police claim he is part of a group active on the dark web called Black Death, which says it sells women as sex slaves to buyers in the Middle East.
Florence Iveson, prosecuting, told the court: “It is said that Mr Herba acting in joint enterprise with his brother Lukasz Herba between July 11 and 17 acted to kidnap and abduct and unlawfully detain Chloe Ayling.
“It is said the victim was drugged, taken from Milan to Lemie and kept from 11 to 17 July and a ransom of €300,000 was demanded.”
Michal Herba appeared in the dock dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and was helped by an interpreter. He spoke only to give his address and date of birth and to state that he contested his extradition.
Katherine Newey, for the defendant, made no application for bail. “The offence took place relatively recently, no evidence has been served in this case, Mr Herba denies involvement,” she said.
Listing the case for a full hearing on 25 September, deputy senior district judge Tan Ikram said: “No bail application is made on your behalf. I’m satisfied there’s substantial grounds to believe that if I were to release you today you would fail to surrender. I came to that view in the light of the seriousness of the offences for which you are wanted in Italy and its very recent age.”
The defendant is due back in court for a bail application on 23 August.
Ayling, of Coulsdon, south London, says she was injected with the horse tranquilliser ketamine, handcuffed and gagged before being stuffed in a suitcase by her kidnappers. She was then driven 120 miles to an isolated farmhouse in the village of Borgial near Turin.
In a series of television appearances, she described being forced to lie on the floor with her hands and feet handcuffed to the legs of a chest of drawers.
But she was freed after six days and driven to the British consulate in Milan by Lukasz Herba, where he was arrested.
