Pop star Lily Allen has thanked London police for rescuing a close friend of hers who she said had been kidnapped for ransom.

The friend, named only as "Charlie", and another man were allegedly abducted at gunpoint from a sports store in west London and bundled into the back of a car at the start of the month.

They were held for a week before Metropolitan Police officers located them at a house in east London.

"Thank you to the Met for getting my friend Charlie back -- we were all terrified and from what I hear you guys did an amazing job," she wrote on her website's blog.

Allen, who revealed details of the incident when she hosted the GQ Men Of The Year Awards yesterday, said the plan had been to extort money from the victim's family.

Police said five men had been charged with offences including conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail.

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