UK millionaire businessman freed after being abducted by 15 men disguised as cops in Ecuador

A wealthy British businessman living in Ecuador who was abducted by a group of 15 men dressed as police officers on his farm during an early morning break-in was freed on Wednesday, ending a five-day nightmare.

Colin Armstrong, 78, was on his property with his partner Katherine Paola Santos on Dec. 16 when the men forcibly entered the property and abducted the pair, according to Sky News citing local reports.

Armstrong, the president of Ecuadorian agriculture firm Agripac, and Paola Santos were taken hostage in the millionaire’s black BMW.

Ecuadorian police tracked the car driving south of the property to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second-largest city.

Armstrong seemingly was released and found on a road in the coastal province of Manabí — 118 miles from where police lost track of Armstrong’s BMW, Ecuador’s police chief Cesar Augusto Zapata Correa announced on X Wednesday morning.

Reports suggest Armstrong’s abductors were from the Los Tiguerones gang, but officials have yet to confirm the connection.

Police had arrested 9 individuals in connection to Armstrong’s abduction during an operation named “Libertad 122,” where 30 houses were searched.

During the raids, documented on body camera, police seized 5 grenades, 6 long and short firearms, 1,500 ammunition, 30 detonators, 9 phones, and 2 vehicles used in the abduction along with “2 kilos of substances that are being analyzed,” Zapata Correa said at a news conference.

Photos released by police captured the items lined up on the ground, which included four pistols, a rifle, a shotgun, boxes of ammo, police vests, radios, and the packaged substances.

Footage of the aftermath of the abductions at the property in Baba, Ecuador showed dried blood on a bed and a broken doorframe, according to SkyNews.

Paola Santos, a Colombian national, was found 24 hours after her abduction when she showed up at Armstrong’s adult son’s home in a taxi wearing a bomb vest, according to the US Sun.

The outlet added that Paola Santos was sent to the home to demand ransom for the cartel group, but a bomb squad was called in and successfully removed the vest.

Police questioned Paola Santos on her and Armstrong’s abduction after she was freed.

Armstrong made his fortune through the agriculture firm he founded in 1972, which he now runs with the help of his son along with owning the 500-acre Tupgill Park Estate in Yorkshire, England.

The estate is home to the Forbidden Corner, a garden tourist attraction created by Armstrong and nicknamed “The Strangest Place in the World.”

Armstrong was also made a UK honorary consul in Ecuador in 2016 and was awarded the OBE and Companions of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for services to the British Monarchy in 2011.