A barber to footballers was lured to London in a ‘honeytrap’ plot by bungling thugs who demanded £500,000 – then discovered he had only £2,000.
Quentin Cepeljac, from Belgium, was tricked into travelling to the capital by a gang who believed he was also a wealthy cryptocurrency trader.
But after threatening him with a machete, they learned his crypto accounts held just £6.71 – leading one to exclaim: ‘Are you kidding me?’
One of his hapless assailants even had to leave the scene of the crime early because he was wearing a tag and had to be home to meet an 8pm curfew.
The ‘bait’ in the honeytrap was Belgian Davina Raaymakers, now 20, who was living in Acton, west London, with her boyfriend Adlan Haji, 28.
Their accomplices, who Isleworth Crown Court heard added ‘muscle’ to the endeavour, were 30-year-old Alexander Khalil, of Hampstead, and 24-year-old Omar Sharif, of Cricklewood.
Mr Cepeljac, 21, who cuts the hair of football stars in Belgium, had been befriended on TikTok and Instagram by a blonde 18-year-old who promised to spend a weekend with him at a luxury tenth-floor flat in central London.
But when he arrived to meet Raaymakers, he was led to a basement bedsit in Shepherd’s Bush and attacked.
Quentin Cepeljac (pictured) was tricked into travelling to the capital by a gang who believed he was also a wealthy cryptocurrency trader
The ‘bait’ in the honeytrap was Belgian Davina Raaymakers (left) who was living in west London, with her boyfriend Adlan Haji (right)
Their accomplices, who Isleworth Crown Court heard added ‘muscle’ to the endeavour, were 30-year-old Alexander Khalil (left) and 24-year-old Omar Sharif (right)
Mr Cepeljac was grabbed and had a machete held to his neck and another knife to his leg while being punched and kicked in the stomach.
In the nine-hour ordeal, his attackers threatened to kill him and showed him footage of them purporting to stab someone to show the terrified barber what they were capable of.
They also took all his belongings, including his passport, phone and Louis Vuitton wallet embossed with his initials.
Prosecutor Nicholas Dunham KC said the gang demanded £500,000 to be transferred to them.
But Mr Cepeljac said: ‘I don’t have that kind of money.’ Haji responded: ‘Are you kidding me?’
They then reduced the demand to £50,000 – before settling for the £2,000 he had in his current account, which they split among themselves, friends and family.
The gang then forced Mr Cepeljac to phone a friend in Belgium to plead for money. But the friend called Belgian police, who contacted officers in London.
The Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad was then waiting for Mr Cepeljac when his attackers – realising he was of no use to them – returned him to St Pancras to catch the Eurostar back to Brussels.
Cepeljac (right) was a barber to numerous footballers including Luis Vazquez (left), who plays for RSC Anderlecht in Belgium
Mr Cepeljac led police to the now deserted Airbnb flat in Shepherd’s Bush, where officers found it had been forensically cleaned with bleach.
Through CCTV footage, phone data and tracing who had booked the Airbnb, officers tracked down the culprits three months later.
Detective Constable Jim Holland of the Flying Squad said: ‘We’ve never had one like this before, a person honeytrapped in the UK who’s come from abroad and had this happen to him.’
Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier of the Flying Squad added: ‘The reason we, the Flying Squad, are successful in solving crimes such as kidnap is that we deal with the offence right from the moment of the 999 call through to the judicial outcome, and no other force in the UK deals with it in this entirety.
‘It’s important to gain the trust of the victims from the start to end of their case, after they’ve been through such a terrifying ordeal.
‘We are equipped to do all of this in London – covering all aspects of the case – compared to any other police area.’
Raaymakers had told Mr Cepeljac she came from a wealthy family who had properties abroad, while Mr Cepeljac – who is also an influencer in Belgium – told her that he dealt in cryptocurrency with some degree of success.
After meeting in person in Brussels, he arrived in London on May 5 last year.
Cepeljac (right) also cut the hair of Mika Godts (left), who plays as a winger for Dutch side Ajax
But when he turned up at the address he had been given, he was jumped by Haji, along with Khalil and Sharif, who had their faces covered.
Once he was in London, Raaymakers had told Mr Cepeljac that the luxury apartment was not available and they would be staying at one of her parents’ Airbnbs instead.
Mr Dunham said: ‘Mr Haji grabbed him by the neck and held a large knife or machete to his throat… At this point Miss Raaymakers exited the premises.’
He added that Sharif had to leave at around 7.30pm because he was electronically tagged due to an earlier offence and needed to be home by 8pm.
He said an associate of the gang accompanied Mr Cepeljac to St Pancras in a taxi the following morning and returned his passport and phone.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Cepeljac said he now suffers flashbacks, has trouble sleeping, being alone or leaving his home, and finds it difficult to trust other people, particularly women.
Each of defendants, who are all unemployed, admitted blackmail and will be sentenced later. Recorder Nicola Shannon KC said they would face long jail terms. The maximum sentence for blackmail is 14 years in prison.
DC Holland said of Mr Cepeljac: ‘This young man had a machete held to his neck, was roughed up, beaten and repeatedly threatened by an international organised crime group made up of Brits and the Belgian national.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Cepeljac (right) said he now suffers flashbacks, has trouble sleeping, being alone or leaving his home, and finds it difficult to trust other people, particularly women
‘He had come over expecting to have a pleasant holiday in a luxury apartment in central London with a young woman he had made friends with over a number of months on social media.
‘Instead, he was subjected to a terrifying ordeal over several hours, where he was held hostage against his will by three violent men holding a machete against his neck as part of an elaborate blackmail attempt to siphon off all of his money.
‘Luckily, thanks to his quick-thinking friend back in Belgium, we were alerted to his situation, and using skilled detective work we were able to track him down and eventually hunt down, arrest and charge the violent offenders who carried out this brutal crime against a defenceless person.
‘This hard-working young man had come over for a break away and he should not have been subjected to this ordeal. No one deserves to be treated like this.’