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Kidnapping—A Global Business

DURING the past decade, a remarkable surge in kidnappings has taken place worldwide. One report says that between 1968 and 1982, nearly a thousand hostages were taken in 73 countries. But in the late 1990’s, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people were kidnapped each year.

Kidnapping is a crime that seems to be in fashion among criminals from Russia to the Philippines, with kidnappers ready to grab at anything that moves. On one occasion a baby barely one day old was kidnapped. In Guatemala an 84-year-old woman in a wheelchair was abducted and held captive for two months. In Rio de Janeiro, street thugs are snatching people right off the street, sometimes demanding as little as $100 in ransom.

Not even animals seem to be safe. Years ago some brazen criminals in Thailand kidnapped a six-ton working elephant and demanded a $1,500 ransom. Criminal gangs in Mexico are said to encourage their young members to practice on pets and domestic animals to get adequate experience before they go for the real thing.

In the past, kidnappers targeted principally the rich, but times have changed. A report from Reuters states: “Kidnapping has become a daily occurrence in Guatemala, where people fondly remember the good old days when leftist rebels targetted only a handful of wealthy businessmen. Now rich and poor, young and old, are fair game for kidnap bands.”

High-profile cases are generally given extensive media attention, but by far the majority of kidnappings are settled without publicity. In fact, for a number of reasons, countries “have little incentive to broadcast a kidnapping problem.” The next article will consider a number of such reasons.

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MEXICO

With some 2,000 people a year being kidnapped, kidnapping has been labeled “a cottage industry.”

GREAT BRITAIN

Kidnap insurance at Lloyd’s of London has increased 50 percent yearly since 1990.

RUSSIA

In the Caucasus region of southern Russia alone, the number of those kidnapped rose from 272 in 1996 to 1,500 in 1998.

PHILIPPINES

According to “Asiaweek,” “the Philippines is probably the kidnap center of Asia.” Over 40 organized kidnapping gangs are operating there.

BRAZIL

In one year kidnappers there reportedly raked in $1.2 billion in ransom money.

COLOMBIA

In recent years thousands have been kidnapped annually. In May 1999, rebels kidnapped a hundred parishioners during a Mass.

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