French police have rescued the father of a cryptocurrency millionaire who had been kidnapped and held for ransom in a Paris suburb.
The unnamed man was attacked in broad daylight in central Paris on Thursday. He was bundled into a delivery van by four men wearing balaclavas, police sources told Le Figaro newspaper.
French media say the victim had one finger missing when he was rescued from a house in Palaiseau, south of Paris, on Saturday.
Four suspects were arrested. It is the third abduction connected to France’s cryptocurrency industry so far this year.
The victim in the latest case is reported to be in his 50s. Le Parisien newspaper said his kidnappers demanded his wealthy son pay a 5-7m euro ransom (£4.2-5.9m).
Police were reportedly led to the house by phone signals. The four suspects are being questioned.
In a post on X late on Saturday, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau congratulated investigators for an “exceptional job in freeing this man”.
The incident comes less than four months after David Balland, co-founder of the cryptocurrency firm Ledger, was abducted with his wife at their home in central France.
They were rescued by police within days. Mr Balland also had a finger cut off.
The criminals had demanded a 10m euro ransom (£8.5m). Six men and a woman were arrested in connection with that case.
And in early January, a 56-year-old man was found alive in the boot of a car near the western city of Le Mans.
Media reports say his abductors had tried to extort money from his son, a cryptocurrency influencer based in Dubai.
