A serving British soldier has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and robbery after he allegedly tied up an Italian couple and held them at knifepoint on the paradise island of Bali.

Greg Simpson, 36, an army reservist who toured Afghanistan as a member of the London Regiment, is believed to have been part of a four-man gang who allegedly stole 5.8 billion Indonesian rupiah during the raid , the equivalent of £300,000.

A former colleague said he traveled to Bali after being disciplined by his unit for making racist remarks during the army’s 2020 Operation Rescript, their national response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

“He had become obsessed with conspiracy theories and far-right politics,” the former colleague said. “I knew he might get in trouble, but being charged with premeditated theft is a nice surprise.”

Indonesian authorities arrested Simpson and his alleged accomplice Nicola Disanto, 34, shortly after the robbery last November, but are still looking for the other two gang members.

It is alleged that they broke into a holiday home at Villa Seminyak Estate and Spa in Seminyak which was rented by Italian couple Principe Nerini, 40, and his wife Camilla Guadagnuolo, 30.

According to a local police chief, the four men dressed entirely in black, covered their faces with scarves and wore gloves to conceal their identities during the 3am attack on November 11 last year.

It is alleged that Mr Nerini was held at knifepoint and had his hands and feet tied before being beaten and locked in a bedroom.

The head of the Denpasar Police Resort, Commissioner Jansen Avitus Panjaitan, told a press conference that the attackers then took six cellphones and forced Mr Nerini to hand over passwords to his bitcoin accounts.

During the robbery, Ms. Guadagnuolo returned to the villa and was later arrested and threatened by the thieves.

Once the robbery was over, the four criminals fled.

Indonesian authorities arrested Simpson (centre right) and his alleged accomplice Nicola Disanto, 34 (centre left) shortly after the robbery last November, but are still looking for the other two gang members.

After breaking free, the couple checked their bitcoin account balance to find that IDR5.8bn (£300,000) had been transferred in three transactions to an account belonging to one of the alleged attackers, Disanto .

Commissioner Jansen, who said the four suspects were foreign nationals, also revealed that Disanto was a former employee of an export company operated by the victims.

Simpson and Disanto were both arrested less than 24 hours after the incident.

Police said during the arrest they seized two knives, a jacket, pants and cash as evidence.

If convicted on the charges of robbery, forcible confinement and threats, the men could face up to nine years in prison.

According to a local police chief, the four men dressed entirely in black, covered their faces with scarves and wore gloves to conceal their identities during the 3am attack on November 11 last year. Pictured: Simpson

One of Simpson’s former army colleagues said he traveled to Bali last year after being disciplined by his unit for making racist remarks in London as the army helped setting up Covid testing sites.

“Over the past 10 years or so he has gone deeper and deeper into conspiracy theories and far-right politics,” the former colleague said.

“He was overheard in a minibus talking about his belief that certain ethnic groups have lower levels of intelligence.

“For this he was formally disciplined and had his salary and rank reduced.

“He wasn’t always like that, but around 2010 there was a marked change in him. He started spending too much time on the internet.

“He became obsessed with bizarre conspiracy theories and David Icke, then became increasingly anti-Semitic, talking a lot about Jewish Freemasons and Jewish control.”

A military spokesman said: “We are aware of an incident in Bali that occurred on November 12, 2021. As the matter is currently under ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further. .”

They said they were unable to release information about the disciplinary hearing as it was an administrative matter covered by data protection law.

According to a former colleague, Simpson toured Afghanistan in 2007 and was part of a UN deployment to Cyprus in 2014.

His Facebook page features a photo of him wearing a belt with a ‘Black Sun’ buckle, a beloved symbol of neo-Nazis and part of the paraphernalia of Christchurch mosque murderer Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 worshipers in 2019.

Other photos show him on armed patrol in Afghanistan and in a khaki pith helmet. His likes include a page titled “British Nationalism”.

It is understood that his family is split between the UK, US and South Africa.

“His mother passed away,” the former colleague said, “and his father lives in the United States. I know he has a brother and two sisters and at least one of them still lives in Great Britain. Brittany.