French prosecutors said seven people have been indicted and placed in preventive detention over the kidnapping of a young Swiss man whose captors demanded a ransom to be paid in cryptocurrency.
The victim, in his 20s, was abducted under undisclosed circumstances on Aug. 28 and held for three days before being freed on Aug. 31 in a raid near the Valence railway station in the Drôme region, the Lyon prosecutor’s office said.
An elite unit of the French gendarmerie, the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), carried out the rescue after being alerted that a Swiss national had been taken hostage by a group demanding digital assets in exchange for his release.
According to a source close to the case, the man was known to hold cryptocurrencies. The prosecutor’s office did not specify the ransom amount sought.
The operation mobilised about 150 gendarmes. In an initial raid, GIGN secured the release of the hostage and arrested the main suspect along with two accomplices.
A second operation the following day led to the capture of four additional suspects.
The seven detainees, including a 17-year-old minor, appeared before magistrates in Lyon and were indicted on preliminary charges of kidnapping and extortion in association with a criminal organisation using weapons, prosecutors said. No further details of the suspects or the alleged criminal network were released.
Authorities in France have noted an increase in cases involving attempts to extort cryptocurrency from victims.
Digital assets, with their pseudonymous nature and ease of transfer, have increasingly become a tool for criminals in ransom schemes.
Law enforcement agencies across Europe have warned that individuals known to possess significant crypto holdings may be at higher risk of abductions or extortion attempts.
French police have disrupted several similar cases in recent months, some of them involving violent tactics, though large-scale incidents remain rare.
The Lyon prosecutor’s office said investigations are continuing and did not rule out further arrests.
