5 seniors arrested in Germany after kidnapping over money

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) — Five senior citizens are behind bars in Germany after they allegedly kidnapped and beat a man because he owed them money, police in southern Germany said Wednesday.

Police say the pensioners kidnapped the man because of business dealings with him in which they claim he owed them money.

Two of the suspects kidnapped the 56-year-old man from his home in Speyer, near Heidelberg, last week, police said. They bound him with electrical tape and took him to a town in southern Germany, police said.

The victim had “obviously been beaten and had two broken ribs,” police said.

The men — a 74-year-old German and a 60-year-old American — then stuffed their victim in the trunk of the 74-year-old’s car and drove him to a house in Chieming, on Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria, police said.

For the next four days they kept the victim in the cellar of the house and gave him no opportunity to make contact with the outside world, police said.

“An attempt to escape after asking for a cigarette didn’t work,” police said.

The man’s break came when he was allowed to make a telephone call in order to raise money for his release, police said. That allowed him to make his situation known, police said.

Around 4 a.m. Saturday night (10 p.m. ET Friday), “a special police unit from Munich stormed the location in Chieming from all sides where the hostage was believed to be held,” police said. They found the victim in a cellar, “lightly injured,” police said.

They arrested five suspects: the two men, the 79-year-old wife of one of the men, and another couple, believed to be in their 60s. That couple apparently wanted money from the victim and had visited him at the house during his ordeal, police said.

All five suspects went before a judge Sunday and were charged with taking part in kidnapping. They remain in custody, police said.