Kidnapped teenager freed after ransom is paid

A teenager was abducted in north Belfast and released more than two hours later after a ransom was paid, police said today.

The 18-year-old man was bundled into a vehicle after being seized from an alleyway by a number of men on Berwick Road, in the Ardoyne area, around 8pm yesterday.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokeswoman said: “It is understood his mobile phone was taken from him and a call was made by one of the assailants to a member of the victim’s family and a demand was made for money.”

The relative was ordered to obtain an undisclosed sum of money from his workplace and drop it off at a designated point.

The teenager was released at 10.30pm after the gang collected the payment from Harding Place, off the New Lodge Road.

He was not injured during the ordeal.

Police have appealed for anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the Stratford or Eskdale areas of Ardoyne or at Harding Place, between 8pm and 10.30pm last night, to come forward.