Moscow, April 26: The kidnapped 20-year-old son of software tycoon Yevgeny Kaspersky has been freed unharmed by Russian police following blunders by his captors.
The operation to rescue the boy included spreading false information in the media to mislead the kidnappers, AP reported on Monday.
Police spokesman Viktor Biryukov told Russian television that intelligence officers and OMON special forces arrested people accused of abducting Ivan Kaspersky and asking for a ransom of €3 million.
Kaspersky Lab said in a statement that no ransom was paid.
Police lured four of the suspects from the home by asking them to collect a down payment and then stopped them on the pretext of a routine document check.
“Police officers working on the case were astonished with how stupid and audacious the kidnapping was,” an official said.
The son of Kaspersky Lab’s CEO was kidnapped on April 19 by unidentified men outside his mother’s office in northwestern Moscow, where the mathematics student was doing an internship.
Kaspersky is the world’s fourth-biggest anti-virus software firm. Yevgeny Kaspersky’s wealth has been estimated at $800 million by Forbes Russia.
——–Agencies