Police foil crystal heiress kidnap plot
Security around Austrian crystal heiress Fiona Swarovski has been tightened after police thwarted an alleged plot by a Romanian gang to kidnap her for ransom.
Police in the alpine province of Tyrol, where the Swarovski crystal company is headquartered, said officers with Austria’s elite Cobra task force were assigned to guard the heiress, who is married to Austrian finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser.
Police were watching one of her homes in the ski resort town of Kitzbuehel, and an extra police unit also was assigned to Grasser as a precaution.
Authorities said they took the measures after a Romanian imprisoned in Austria told officials there was a plot to abduct Swarovski, 41, and hold her for an undisclosed amount of cash.
It was unclear whether Grasser, 37, was also a target of the alleged kidnapping plot. The couple married in October 2005.
Police were searching for more members of the criminal group behind the plot, state television reported.
