Two French Suspects Arrested in Marbella for 2020 Kidnapping of Dutch Businessman

Jamal was kidnapped as he was returning from a restaurant in Puerto Banus in Marbella with his wife and their five children. Their vehicle, a Mercedes G-Wagon, was intercepted by two vehicles equipped with police sirens from which eight armed men in police uniform emerged, who assaulted Jamal several times before taking him away by force. His family, without news of him for more than two years, offered at the end of January a reward of 100,000 euros to anyone who would provide information leading to his location, recalls El Confidencial.

The investigation, led by the organized crime section of the Drug and Organized Crime Unit (Udyco) of the Costa del Sol, made it possible to identify a group of suspects and to proceed on Tuesday to the arrest of the two defendants of French origin, aged 37 and 42, members of a dangerous criminal organization, according to the investigators. They are being investigated for the offenses of kidnapping, belonging to a criminal group and invasion of privacy because of the tracking device found on the victim’s Mercedes, which probably allowed the attackers to know all his movements and plan the kidnapping.

The investigators believe that Jamal has already been murdered. On this basis, the two defendants should also be charged with murder. His body would be buried on a farm in Coín where an elderly British couple lived. But the searches were unsuccessful on this site. The two French arrested on Tuesday were placed in custody at the Marbella police station and were to be brought before the competent judge on Thursday. Six other people involved in the case will be arrested in the coming days, it is assured.

According to certain recordings, the criminal network to which the two French belong was looking for a Dutchman of Moroccan origin like Jamal, mentioning in detail the type of car he was driving, the places he frequented, and revealing that he was to be attacked. Jamal’s kidnapping took place twelve days after the recording of these audios. The investigators requested a search of their home. Five people were arrested there but "no object of interest for the investigation was found". For the police, Jamal is linked to drug trafficking. A hypothesis rejected by his family who specify that he has never been arrested or convicted.