FIVE people have been arrested for assaulting and kidnapping a homeless man in Leganes, Madrid, over a measly €15 debt.
Among the suspects are a Colombian man and his Spanish partner, two Hungarian twin brothers and another Spanish man.
Police also established that the apartment was being used as a base for small-scale drug dealing.
The case came to light after a disturbing video of the attack began circulating widely on WhatsApp.
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The footage showed the victim bloodied, injured and being repeatedly beaten, insulted and humiliated by a group of attackers, including a woman.
A local resident who recognised the homeless man alerted police after noticing he had not been seen for several days.
“He realized he hadn’t seen him in the square for several days. The victim was being held captive in a residence, completely defenceless, half-naked, and subjected to insults, threats, and degrading language by his attackers”, police said.
Days later, on March 10, a second man was found in the middle of a street, covered in blood and a broken nose.
He told officers he had entered the same apartment and was attacked after trying to intervene in an argument between two men and a woman.
Surveillance was set up around the building, and within 48 hours officers carried out an operation to arrest all five suspects.
The suspects are now facing multiple charges, including illegal detention, assault, making serious threats and crimes against moral integrity.
Authorities also revealed that two of the detainees – a couple – were in breach of an existing restraining order against each other.
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