In 2017, British model Chloe Ayling jetted to Milan, Italy, for what she believed to be a photoshoot. However, in a devastating turn of events, Chloe was drugged and abducted by the man who had been emailing her agent and posing as a photographer named ‘Andre Lazio’.

Chloe had been kidnapped with the intention of being auctioned and sold on the dark web, but fortunately the young woman lived to tell the tale. Ultimately, Chloe’s captor started to get feelings for her and she used this to talk him into releasing her.

Meanwhile, police in both Italy and England were working hard to try locate the model before she was auction off to the highest bidder.

On the day of the deadline, police received a gut-wrenching email that left one investigator feeling like he’d ‘failed’.

The simply read ‘she’s gone mate’, implying that Chloe had already been sold. At this time the police were unaware that Chloe was still somewhat safe.

One of the investigators on the 2017 took part in a new BBC docu-series, albeit anonymously.

The series is called Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping and the first episode aired on BBC last night (August 4).

Speaking in the tell-all documentary, the investigator recalled the moment he received the email informing him that Chloe had supposedly been sold.

He said: “There was a single email that came in around 3am that just said ‘she’s gone’. She was going to be sold into the sex industry. You don’t know where she’s going to be held or for how long, what’s she’s going to endure… You think, well there’s no coming back from that.”

“That moment was terrible,” he continued. “It was probably the lowest ebb in 30 years. I’d been given a responsibility and I’d failed. It’s not an easy thing to admit but it’s true.”

But Chloe hadn’t been sold and the next day the investigator found out that her kidnapper had taken to her to the Milan consulate instead.

While she was told to end any investigations into her abduction, Chloe went on to the tell the authorities everything about her captor, who was later identified as Łukasz Herba.

Almost a year on from the scary ordeal Łukasz went to trial and was found found guilty of kidnapping Chloe. He was sentenced to almost 17 years behind bars.

Male initiation is a cultural practice in South Africa that sees boys move into adulthood through circumcision, the South African government stated.

It’s understood this ritual is mostly common among two of the country’s most numerous ethnic communities, Xhosas and Ndebeles.

Traditionally, young boys attend initiation ‘schools’ in secluded areas in the mountains, with the Eastern Cape Department of Health remarking that about 20,000 head to each secret session.

Previous reports said that, as well as completing the move from ‘boyhood’ to ‘manhood’ through circumcision, the school attendees are often subjected to assault, dehydration and starvation.

While many schools are considered legitimate, others are run as a way for ‘chancers to make money’ by people not qualified to perform the circumcision, said Chief Jongumhlaba Hlangu, a traditional leader in Nqgeleni.

Following the 2025 season, at least 39 boys are reported to have died, and dozens more have been left mutilated.

The statistic comes after 94 boys died in 2024, bringing the total sum of fatalities to 361 over the last five years, according to officials.

Why do boys undergo the circumcision ritual?

The male initiation traditionally prepares young men to be responsible men in society, as per the South African Government.

A study published in Sage Journals added that the ‘ritual aims to instil good moral and social values’.

While a supposed choice, those who do not elect to take part in the rite are often ostracized by their peers, with some claiming they have been bullied and beaten in the past.

What have officials said about circumcision initiation ceremonies?

Eastern Cape provincial chairperson Athol Trollip, of ActionSA, a South African political party, initially criticized these illegal schools back in 2023.

“It is common knowledge that the bulk of the deaths occur because of illegal initiation schools run by opportunistic, inexperienced, unqualified and unsupervised individuals who are responsible for the actual circumcision, post-procedural care and overall parental/familial oversight,” he shared.

“ActionSA urges the government of the Eastern Cape to do everything that is required to stop the unnecessary loss of lives during initiation season. The government must reconsider how initiation schools are registered and supervised.”

Eastern Cape government Traditional Affairs Minister Mlibo Qoboshiyane said: “It is only when we speak openly about how the practice is being exploited that we can hope to prevent these deaths.”

He added that the government wants to work with communities to tackle the illegal surgeons, rather than interfering with tradition.

Male circumcision is offered by South African medical institutions

In the past, health experts have seen ‘horrific cases of rotting penises, septicaemia and inadvertent castrations’ following the circumcision ritual.

It’s said others die from dehydration and hypothermia, and that HIV has been spread because the same knife has been ‘used on large groups of boys’.

Because of the risk the initial schools pose and past health concerns, many public and private facilities offer medical male circumcision.

The South African National Department of Health (NDoH) has also endorsed Medical Male Circumcision (MMC) as an HIV prevention strategy for men in South Africa.

However, the BBC reported that many see the hospital alternative as ‘westernisation of their custom’.

For 35 years, Ralph Goff worked for the CIA – donning the role of chief of operations for Europe and Eurasia for a number of years before retirement.

Now, the 72-year-old has given his terrifying prediction of what could come to fruition between Russia and US, as the 79-year-old POTUS revealed that he ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned ‘in the appropriate regions’ after a Russian official threatened the America with war.

Goff believes Putin must stay on high alert if he wishes to continue on as the president.

“It’s similar to the Italian mafia organised crime in the United States – where if the head was judged bad for business, then the they would get together and take him out,” he told The Sun.

“So Putin’s got to watch out. He’s got to watch the economy.

“He’s got to watch the loyalty of the oligarchs.”

However, he noted that he is ‘still popular’ among his wealthy friends, but that the result of waging war with Ukraine has had its effects on Russia.

“It’s a huge scale of devastation and loss. And that can undermine just about anybody,” Goff added.

He continued: “Putin may have the same fate as Bashar al-Assad who fell suddenly without warning.

“I think this is one of the more likely outcomes for Putin – a threat that he doesn’t even see coming, comes out of nowhere, and he’s gone.”

So while his country is at war in Ukraine and tensions between him and the US rise, Goff believes the real concern is being overthrown domestically – like how former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was in 2024, having taken control of the country in 2000.

But then there’s the widespread rumors about the 72-year-old Russian, relating to his health – with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claiming earlier this year that his foe will ‘die soon’.

There’s countless rumors suggesting Putin has fallen ill and is battling cancer, or Parkinson’s, and Goff thinks there could be something in this.

“Putin is a guy who’s afraid of Covid, afraid of being sick,” he explained. “His personal health and wellbeing are his top concern.”

So, it would make sense for him to avoid illness if his health was declining… although that being said, I think everyone would whether they’re healthy or not!

On Thursday (July 31), 79-year-old Trump alleged that former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev should ‘watch his words’ after he said the Republican’s threat of hitting Russia and buyers of its oil with punitive tariffs was ’a game of ultimatums’.

Medvedev’s warning came after Trump said Russia had ‘ten or twelve days’ from July 29 to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, as per Reuters.

“If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path,” the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation said in a post on Telegram.

He added that Trump should remember ‘how dangerous the fabled ‘Dead Hand’ can be’, referring to Russia’s secretive, semi-automated nuclear command system designed to automatically launch if Russian leadership is eliminated in an enemy attack.

Following Medvedev’s comments, Trump took to Truth Social on Friday (August 1) to confirm his administration had moved two nuclear vessels.

“Based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions,” he wrote on his social media network.

He explained that moving the submarines was a decision made ‘just in case’ Medvedev’s words were actually threats.

“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

It is not clear whether the father-of-five was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines in his post.

In a follow-up interview, Trump told reporters that he deemed Medvedev’s comments as threatening.

“We didn’t think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful.

“I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia. And we’re going to protect our people.”

Reuters reported that security analysts have called Trump’s move a rhetorical escalation with Moscow, but not necessarily a military one.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group, has called the 47th US President’s potential war move both ‘irresponsible and inadvisable’.

“No leader or deputy leader should be threatening nuclear war, let alone in a juvenile manner on social media.”

The Kremlin has yet to make a public comment on the issue.