Italian police have arrested two Nigerians and three other African migrants over the alleged abduction and gang rape of a Colombian tourist in Rome.
According to reports, the 32-year-old Colombian woman was allegedly lured away from a restaurant in the Italian capital on May 19 by a man who offered to sell her hashish, a cannabis product.
Authorities said the woman was subsequently taken in a van to an abandoned building on the eastern outskirts of Rome, where she was allegedly held captive for about 72 hours.
Investigators alleged that the victim was repeatedly raped, drugged and threatened during her captivity.
The woman reportedly managed to escape from the building before she was found half-naked on a pavement by a passerby, who alerted emergency services.
Police later raided the property and arrested five suspects identified as Saidykhan Lamin, 29, and Karamba Kanteh, 38, both from Gambia; Harouna Traore, a 43-year-old Malian; and two Nigerians, Isibor Wisdom, 29, and Paul Nwabueze, 39.
The suspects have been charged with gang rape aggravated by the victim’s vulnerable condition and remain in police custody.
Authorities said investigations are ongoing to apprehend other individuals believed to have participated in the incident, including the man who allegedly lured the victim from the restaurant and the driver who transported her to the abandoned building.
Police also disclosed that 22 undocumented migrants were discovered during the raid on the property, with 11 reportedly transferred to detention centres pending deportation procedures.
