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ROME — Italian police say they have broken up an international operation to kidnap children involved in custody battles and whisk them back to Europe.

They arrested four people who worked with a security company that charged tens of thousands of dollars to find children in contested custody cases.

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The conspiracy reportedly involved former special forces soldiers who, armed with weapons, Tasers and pepper spray, launched daring and risky operations to recover children living with one parent after a divorce or separation and reunite them with the other parent.

The syndicate employed “contractors, for the most part veterans of special corps from the armed forces, ready to offer their operational skills to whoever was willing to pay them handsomely enough,” police said.

Among those arrested was a Ukrainian former Olympic sailing champion. Larysa Moskalenko, 50, won a bronze medal at the Seoul Olympics, but in 1993 moved to Sicily, where she now runs a luxury boat rental business.