Police uncovered a plastic-lined ‘torture chamber’ filled with hammers and pliers inside a home in Estepona after a naked and bloodied man escaped screaming: ‘They want to kill us.’
The macabre details have emerged after seven alleged members of a Serbian organised crime group were jailed in Alhaurin de la Torre last week.
Two AK-47 assault rifles and several handguns were reportedly seized from the property.
The room’s walls and floor had been covered in plastic so that blood could be removed without leaving forensic evidence once the victims had been killed.
The horrifying discovery was made on September 5 after the girlfriend of one of the captives alerted the Policia Nacional, reports respected national newspaper El Español.
Her Moroccan partner had told her that he was going to a house for a work-related meeting.
Before entering, he warned her to call the police if she had not heard from him within 20 minutes.
When 40 minutes passed without any contact, the woman dialled 091 and said she feared something had happened to him.
A two-officer patrol was immediately dispatched to the property.
When nobody answered the door, the officers climbed over its perimeter fence amid fears that someone inside was in imminent danger.
Moments later, a naked man covered in blood came running out of the building.
‘They want to kill us! They want to kill us!’ he repeatedly screamed, according to sources close to the judicial investigation quoted by El Español.
The officers called for urgent reinforcements before entering the home, where they found a scene resembling a horror film.
Inside a room covered from floor to ceiling in plastic, another bloodied man was allegedly found naked and tied to a chair.
Investigators reportedly recovered tools including hammers and pliers that are believed to have been used to torture the victims.
Every available patrol in Estepona and neighbouring Marbella was sent to the street because of the suspected occupants’ danger.
A search of the property allegedly uncovered two AK-47 assault rifles and several pistols.
Investigators believe the seven Serbian suspects belong to an Eastern European organised crime group.
The Moroccan man who fled the property was the partner of the woman who raised the alarm, while the second victim is Spanish.
Both men had visible injuries and were said to be naked and covered in blood when rescued.
Police are investigating whether they were being tortured as part of a drug-related settling of scores.
One theory is that the victims may have failed to complete a criminal job, stolen drugs from another gang or owed money.
Investigators suspect the material would have been removed and burned afterwards, making it much harder for forensic officers using luminol to detect biological traces inside the room.
The operation remains open as police attempt to identify and locate other suspected members of the gang.
