When a man in Siberia learned that his wife had left him, he kidnapped himself another family in an attempt to get her back, according to police in the city of Tyumen.
Police said in a statement Tuesday that they have detained a local man on suspicion of having kidnapped a 22-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child — the wife and child of his own estranged wife's brother.
The 31-year-old suspect told investigators that his wife had left him a month earlier, saying that she was going to stay with her brother in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the Interior Ministry's statement said.
The man responded by traveling to Rostov-on-Don to abduct the brother's wife and child and use them as leverage to persuade his wife to come back, according to the police statement.
Witnesses told police that an unidentified man seized the woman and child in Rostov-on-Don, forced them into a car and drove off.
Following the abduction, the suspect repeatedly called his estranged wife's brother, setting "demands and conditions" for returning the man's family, the report said, adding that it was precisely these telephone conversations that led police to the suspect in Tyumen.
The young woman and her daughter were freed following the suspect's detention.
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