A MAN has been jailed for his role in kidnapping two shop workers who were tortured.

Joseph Hadji, 27, was one of six men who ransacked a sports shop and forced two members of staff into a car at gunpoint.

They were then driven to a house, where they were bound and blindfolded.

The men were regularly beaten, shown videos of torture and told they would be killed if their families did not pay a ransom.

Police eventually saved the men as they were being led from the house.

They had been showered and police believe they may have been on the verge of being killed.

Det Insp Charlie Hodge, of the Met Police kidnap unit, said: "This was a violent and organised kidnap where those responsible showed little concern for the welfare of the two hostages, holding them in extreme conditions and exposing them to violence and psychological torture.

“Their only concern was the payment of a ransom, the fate of both hostages seemed immaterial.

"The successful convictions of these violent and dangerous criminals illustrates that the Met are world leaders in kidnap investigations."

Hadji, of Forest Road, Leytonstone, admitted kidnap and blackmail and was sentence to ten years in jail at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

Five other members of the gang were jailed for a total of 43 years.

Police are still trying to trace five men who in August last year accompanied Hadji to the sports shop in Ladbroke Grove.

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