The City of London Police had put the teenage boy in the suburban Travelodge to protect him. They even set up a code with him and his mom to signal it was safe to open the door: “Lucky lucky.”

Then they grew suspicious.

The teen had a history with the police. It was September 2022, and 17-year-old Arion Kurtaj had been arrested twice earlier that year for his alleged role in a hacking group that stole data and demanded ransoms from some of the world’s biggest tech companies. Kurtaj, who is autistic, was released both times. The second time, that March, he had been let go under the condition that he stay offline.