Who is Chloe Ayling’s kidnapper Lukasz Herba, where is he now and what is the Black Death gang?

LUKASZ Herba claimed to be an assassin working for the Black Death  Group when he kidnapped British glamour model and mum-of-one Chloe Ayling.

Here is everything we know about Herba and the shocking case, which features in the new BBC factual drama 'Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story.

Who are the Black Death Group?

The so-called Black Death group is an organisation which claims to be responsible for a network of kidnapping and people trafficking.

Although rumours of its existence have circulated for several years, the kidnapping of Chloe Ayling in Milan is believed to be the only suspected crime authorities have publicly linked it to.

The name is notorious on sections of the internet due to the apparent scale and depravity of its offending, though it's not clear if its photos touting women for sale are authentic, nor if it is as proficient as it claims to be.

It's claimed that users of the dark web pay huge fees to buy women who have been kidnapped from across Europe.

A 2015 article by Vice's Motherboard stated their reporter had found images of women chained up with the victim being offered for sale £115,000.

Who is Chloe Ayling's kidnapper Lukasz Herba?

Lukasz Herba was convicted of kidnapping the model on June 11, 2018 and sentenced to 16 years and nine months in prison.

He was found guilty of drugging her when she showed up in Milan for a modelling job.

The now 33-year-old was convicted in a court in the Italian city and jailed for more than 16 years.

Herba had claimed Chloe agreed to the scheme as part of a publicity stunt to boost her career.

But in 2020 his sentence was reduced by almost five years because a judge ruled he ''acted out of love''.

Chloe told cops she was drugged, handcuffed, stuffed in a suitcase and held captive for six days after she showed up at a Milan address for a modelling job, before being released at the British consulate in Milan.

Herba claimed she wanted to raise her profile in an effort to amass more followers on her paid-for Facebook profile, which had “spicy photographs” for cash.

He said they met on the social media platform and planned the kidnap together because she told him she was cash strapped.

Polish-born Herba denied abducting Chloe during his trial in Milan.

Police say Herba demanded £250,000 to stop a human trafficking auction, hosted on pornographic sites on the dark web.

He was arrested on July 17, 2017, after delivering Chloe to the British consulate in Milan.

She claims he took pity on her after she told him she had a then two-year-old son.

The alleged kidnapper told police he had no idea of the kidnap plan when he was paid £500,000 by Romanians to pose as a photographer and meet Chloe.

He said when he found out they were planning to kidnap her he backed out of the plan.

How to watch Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story

The BBC’s six-part factual drama about the chilling case will air at 9pm on Wednesday August 14.

It will be shown on BBC Three, kicking off with a double bill.

The whole series will drop on the same date on iPlayer.

Release dates for the following four episodes have yet to be released.