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Police foil Hells Angels kidnap plot

In a mysterious incident in Gothenburg, a kidnapped man in his 50s was freed by police after they found him bound and gagged in the boot of a car.

Published: 26 November 2011 14:14 CET
Police foil Hells Angels kidnap plot

The man, who was discovered naked in the car boot, had been reported missing on Thursday evening. According to reports he was apprehended and bundled into the car in the southern Gothenburg suburb of Askim and driven away.

Somehow, he managed to call police from a mobile and raise the alarm, but as he had no idea where he was, the only way for them to try to find him was by driving around with wailing sirens hoping he could hear.

With time running out, police were wary of the man losing consciousness in the car boot, so they summoned a helicopter to fly low over the entire area. Eventually the man, who has still not been named by police, heard the rotating blades and police managed to track him to a BMW on a pier at a marina.

When the police searched the car they found him in the boot, tied up and covered in blood. The BMW had not been reported stolen and his clothes were found close by, adding to the mystery.

The car and clothes were taken away for further investigation, while the man was taken to hospital with injuries to his abdomen.

According to local press reports, the victim has admitted that he was deep in debt to a Hells Angels gang, which he said was the reason behind the attack. Meanwhile, police investigations continue.

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FINANCE

Is Denmark’s government about to send you an enormous cheque?

Several of Denmark's political parties want to release part or all of Danish residents''frozen holiday money' ahead of the summer break, meaning a cheque of up to 24,500 kroner for someone earning 350,000 kroner a year. And some want to go even further and give out 'helicopter money'.

Published: 10 June 2020 08:18 CEST
Is Denmark's government about to send you an enormous cheque?
The government wants to put money in the hands of citizens. Photo: Bax Lindhardt/SP/Ritzau Scanpix
The Red Green Alliance is pushing for the government to mail out 10,000 kroner (€1,341) tax-free cheques to all earning less than 32,000 kroner (€4,292) a month. 
 
The political parties are set later this week to begin negotiating the so-called 'summer package', a stimulus package designed to encourage people in Denmark to spend more money in local businesses, hotels and cultural institutions during their summer staycations. 
 
“There is not much you can say against this, and that is why it is an incredibly important part of our deliberations,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told DR on Tuesday evening. .
 
“We think it is natural that when we discuss the end of the aid packages, that we also discuss the long-term economy. For example, it could also be holiday money.” 
 
The 100bn kroner in 'frozen holiday money' exists because Denmark has changed the way people build up holiday allowances as they work. Under the old scheme, you built up the allowance over a year and could only take it after the following May. Under the new one, you earn 2.08 days of holiday a month, which can be used immediately. 
 
Because people in Denmark would have earned double holiday money during the transition between the two systems, the government decided to only let them access the so-called 'frozen money' on retirement. 
 
 
As well as seeing the sense of releasing the holiday money, Frederiksen on Tuesday said she also understood some of the advantages of 'helicopter money' payments, which can channel money to those most likely to spend it. 
 
“That's something I have a great deal of sympathy for, and I can see that many economists support helicopter money,” she said, referring to the Red Green Alliance's proposal.
 
“It is reminiscent of the discussion we are having right now on holiday money. But we are going to be the boring party and point out that there is an economy we need to take care of on the other side of the crisis as well.” 
 
The government hopes to carry out political discussions over the summer package with other parties at the end of this week. 
 
The Danish People's Party, the Conservative Party, the New Right, and the Liberal Alliance are pushing to have the holiday money paid out ahead of the summer holiday as part of a stimulus package. 
 
The Confederation of Danish Employers and the Danish Trade Union Confederation also believe that the holiday money should be paid out.
 

And even Torben M. Andersen, the Aarhus University economics professor who chairs the government's economics expert group, supports the idea.  
 
“It will trigger such large payments to the citizen that it can probably do the work and get enough demand and consumption started in a first round of economic recovery,” he told the Politiken newspaper. 
 
 
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