Callum Jones
A woman who was kidnapped and put up for sale on the dark web admitted she's lucky to have escaped the terrifying situation.
Chloe Ayling is arguably best known for her stint on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 - a reality competition she really made a name for herself on.
However, the model first made the headlines a year prior after she was abducted and drugged by two men.
They had claimed to have plans to subsequently sell her on the dark web as a sex slave.
Advert
A then 21-year-old Chloe had traveled to Milan, Italy, after her agent had organised for her to attend a photoshoot for what appeared to be a glamorous gig.
Chloe's agent believed he was speaking to a man named 'Andre Lazio', but in reality, he had unknowingly organised for Chloe to meet with Lukasz Herba, who would be her kidnapper.
Speaking to on ITV's This Morning after she finally made her safe return back to the UK, the model recalled: "I walked into the studio and there was just silence.
"Normally someone would greet you at the door but I just didn't hear anything.
"Before I had time to process my thoughts, that's exactly when the masked man put his arm around my neck and mouth... and another one came to the front of me and injected me in my wrists."
Chloe said she later found herself in the boot of a car in a zip-up bag.
"I had tape on my mouth and handcuffs on my feet and my hands," she revealed.
The model also noticed that there was an empty suitcase in the boot of the car with her, which she presumed her kidnappers planned to eventually put her in.
She was held in a remote farmhouse two hours outside of Milan for six days while she tried to reason with her kidnappers to convince them to let her go.
The two men had threatened to sell Ayling as a sex slave on the dark web if they were not paid €300,000 ($328,900).
In an interview with Inside Edition, Chloe recalled her kidnappers telling her that there had already been a 'huge interest' in her sale.
Eventually, Chloe managed to convince her kidnappers to let her go when she told them about her child back at home.
Six days after her disappearance, Chloe and her kidnapper appeared at the Milan consulate together.
Herba was eventually handed a 16 year prison sentence, but in 2021, it was cut down to five years and eight months.
As well as the trauma of the kidnapping, Chloe has had to deal with unfounded accusations from the public that she faked her own kidnapping for publicity.