Three teenagers suspected of kidnapping a student and holding him hostage for a ransom of 70,000 rubles ($2,300) have been detained, police said Tuesday.
The three young men, between 16 and 17 years of age, were detained by officers in Moscow's Khamovniki municipal district, where the alleged crime was committed, RIA-Novosti reported.
Police began searching for the suspects on Monday after receiving a complaint from a first-year student of the State University for Information Technology and Business, who said he was abducted near the Kievskaya metro station the previous day.
The kidnappers, one of whom was acquainted with the victim, reportedly forced him into a car and took him to a nearby street, where they began to threaten him verbally and with a baseball bat.
The teenagers beat the victim inside an apartment building entrance, took his money and mobile phone and made him call friends to get the ransom money, police said.
When he could not find the money, the teenagers took the victim to a garage on Komsomolsky Prospekt, where they continued to beat and torture him, the report said.
The abducted student was released after his friend gave the captors 70,000 rubles in ransom money, police said.
Police have opened a criminal case on kidnapping and extortion charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
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