A fourteen-year-old schoolboy from Bradford, England was kidnapped and held for ransom after mentioning on social media posts that he made “a reasonable amount of money” from trading cryptocurrencies.
The schoolboy, who has remained anonymous for legal reasons, was confronted outside a store in May before being assaulted and forced into the back of a Toyota Auris. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Muhammed Khubaib in the legal proceedings, punched the boy with a gloved hand containing sand.
According to a report by The Guardian, prosecutors said the boy was forced to call his mother and tell her that she would need to pay “£10,000 or her son wouldn’t be going home.” The boy’s mother was able to reach an agreement with the kidnappers for £900 in exchange for her son’s safe return.
Khubaib, who was arrested by authorities a few days after the incident, pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and blackmail. The report claims that the three other men involved in the abduction had not yet been named or prosecuted.
Judge Richard Mansell QC said the boy had been targeted by the men after making several social media posts claiming to have acquired a “reasonable amount of money” from trading crypto.
Khubaib was sentenced to four years in prison. DC Paul Maxwell of West Yorkshire police said of the sentencing:
We welcome the sentence which has been passed down to Khubaib today at court. He pleaded guilty to both counts he was charged with in May.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
