Six people were arrested in Lisbon due to their involvement in a simulated kidnapping of two British women tourists, who decided to celebrate their 40th birthday by contacting an entertainment company and arranging this offbeat request.
On Sunday, at around 3.30pm at the Praça dos Restauradores, a van stopped at the square and two men, one of whom was masked, jumped out of the vehicle and grabbed two of nine tourists. They then forced them into the vehicle which was being driven by a third ‘kidnapper’. The owner of the company was filming the commotion.
A police source said that the simulated kidnap caused social alarm and frightened the people who were at the scene of the ‘crime’. Many of them called the authorities.
The PSP police deployed vehicles to the area and were able to intercept the van and suspected kidnappers. The vehicle and a video-camera used to film the incident were confiscated in the process.
The four workers of the entertainment company and the two British women were due to be interrogated.
