Good news, Internet. Russian police pulled off what sounds like a legitimate Hollywood kidnapping rescue and rescued the kidnapped son of Kaspersky Lab’s co-founder, Yevegny Kaspersky. The short story is the 20-year was returned safely, but the long story is much more interesting.
The kidnappers, Nikolai Savelyev, age 61, and his wife, one grown son and two adult friends, asked for $4.3 million Euros in exchange for the boy. That amount is thought to be needed to pay off a bank loan owed by the kidnappers. Eventually the police drew out four of the kidnappers by claiming to have a down payment on the $4.3 million. Instead, they detained the four during a routine auto document checkpoint. While that went down, police raided the home and found Ivan Kaspersky stashed near the house in a “banya,” a Russian steam bath. Police even leaked the wrong info to the media along the way as part of the operation.
The five kidnappers are being held in custody awaiting kidnapping charges, which run 15 to 20 years. [eWeek & The Moscow Times]