A 45-year-old woman has been arrested along with two men after trying to extort money out of her Alicante mother by lying about a fake kidnapping.
The criminal plot involved demanding €3,000 for her freedom or else she would be killed.
The mother contacted a charity assisting victims of human trafficking saying that her daughter was being held against her will in the Bilbao area.
The charity passed on the details to the Policia Nacional in Cordoba who in turn spoke to the mother.
She said she got a phone call from her daughter saying that she owed money for drugs and two men had held her for a fortnight.
Her alleged ordeal included assaults and being forced to practice prostitution.
The frightened parent later spoke to the two kidnappers who said that if she paid them €3,000, then the debt would be sorted and her daughter would be released in Bilbao.
The mother talked the men into reducing their demand to just €800 and insisted on any cash handover taking place in the Alicante area.
The Policia Nacional established that she was being hoaxed and her daughter was in no harm.
A trap was set at an agreed rendezvous point at an Alicante city service station with officers lying in wait for the extortionists.
The two ‘kidnappers’ pulled over in their car- along with the daughter- and were arrested by police who waited for their arrival.
READ MORE: