A British model who was kidnapped, drugged and nearly sex trafficked last month has spoken out about the harrowing ordeal for the first time.
Speaking with The Telegraph outside her London home, Chloe Ayling, 20, thanked Italian and UK authorities for ensuring her safe return.
“I’ve been through a terrifying experience,” Ayling told reporters last night. “I feared for my life, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour.”
As Crime Online previously reported, authorities believe Lukasz Pawel Herba, 30, and an unknown accomplice lured Ayling to a Milan studio under the guise of a photo shoot. The pair is said to have drugged her and held her captive for a week.
Herba supposedly planned to sell the 20-year-old on the Dark Web through a criminal syndicate called Black Death. During her captivity, her kidnappers told her that she will likely be sold off to the Middle East, where she would be fed to tigers or sold off once her buyer became bored of her, authorities have noted.
A drugged Ayling was able to relay to Herba that she was a mother to a two-year-old child, testimony heard on Friday detailed. This revelation saved Ayling, as forcing mothers into sex trade is “against the [organization’s] rules.”
Herba, who lives in the West Midlands, was arrested while taking the kidnapped model to the British Consulate.
Police recovered a letter, allegedly from Black Death, to Ayling from the suspect’s computer. In it, the group apologized for the “mistake” they made but also demanded she pay $50,000 for her release. They threatened that disobeying the order would lead to her “elimination.”
“You also agreed to sneak a pre-determined set of information in to the [sic] media, and we will expect to see evidence that has been done in the near future,” the note also read, according to The Daily Beast.
Authorities say they are currently searching for the man’s accomplice.
“I have just arrived home after four weeks and haven’t had time to gather my thoughts. I am not at liberty to say anything further until I have been debriefed by the UK police,” Ayling said.
[Featured Image: Instagram/chloeayling]