POLICE freed kidnapped Swedish showjumper Ulrika Bidegard early today,
ending a five-day ordeal in which she had been kept trussed, blindfolded
and starved in a specially-built refrigerated goods container.
The pre-dawn raid on an apartment in the inner Brussels suburb of Ix
Belgiso netted the 31-year-old kidnapper, Swede Lars Nilsson.
''The police found (Bidegard) blindfolded and wearing big headphones
in a large frigobox. She was tied (to a seat) by the legs, arms and
head. She spent five nights in that position,'' Belgian Crown Prosecutor
Benoit Dejemeppe told reporters.
He said that police had tracked Nilsson down after they photographed
him using the 28-year-old Bidegard's credit card to repeatedly withdraw
cash from a bank cashpoint machine.
Nilsson, who knew the Bidegard family, has been charged with
kidnapping and theft with violence, Dejemeppe said, adding that he did
not try to resist arrest.
But police found no trace of the weapon Nilsson admitted using during
last Wednesday's kidnapping from the family's house in the exclusive
Sint-Genesius-Rode suburb of Brussels.
''Apparently the motive was money,'' Dejemeppe said. ''But Nilsson
never named an amount and gave no indication of how it should be paid.''
Nilsson made his phone calls to the Bidegard family from different phone
boxes in Ixelles.
Ulrika's brother, Bo Christian, later told reporters: ''The whole
family met at the hospital and there was real family hapiness. There
were tears and it was hugging and everything . . . to see Ulrika alive
was incredible.''
He said she had been given only one and a half bananas to eat and two
glasses of water to drink during her ordeal.
Dejemeppe said Bidegard, one of Sweden's top five showjumpers, was
suffering from shock but was otherwise unharmed and there was no sign of
sexual assault.
Dejemeppe said the frigobox, about 5ft 2in high, had a hole underneath
the seat ''for natural needs''.
He said Nilsson, believed to be an unemployed architect, had installed
flooring in the Bidegards' home.
Police believe Bidegard was kidnapped as she was getting out of her
car at the house where she lived with her parents.
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