A Polish citizen has been charged with kidnapping a 20-year-old British model in what the Italian authorities said Saturday was part of a scheme to sell the woman on a pornography website.

The model, whom the State Police in Italy did not identify, was drugged, handcuffed and locked in a travel bag after being taken hostage in Milan on July 11, according to a statement issued by the authorities.

The kidnapper had demanded that the woman’s agent pay a $300,000 ransom to prevent her from being sold, the statement said.