
Kidnapping: An Efficient Business - kwindla
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/05/09/kidnapping-efficient-business/
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lentil_soup
I was kidnapped many years ago and in conversation with them (to calm them and
myself) they regarded kidnapping their profession, literally asking me to
allow them do their job.

You could feel they had a script for how things had to go. First they scare
you to try to get you to say things from which they can get a feel for how
much you're worth, then they throw a high number (I guess based on the
previous step), negotiation starts, the ransom delivery and finally release.

~~~
vaylian
If you like to share this information: Which country was this?

I imagine someone has to be quite psychopathic (or extremely greedy) to do
kidnapping. I would imagine it is usually very traumatising for the victims,
regardless of how friendly the kidnappers might seem.

~~~
lentil_soup
This was in Venezuela over 10 years ago.

It was quite surreal, I was even lectured by one of them about being out at
night, that I should be more careful since there's "bad people" out there and
I was lucky to get caught by some good ones (!). I guess that shows what their
frame of mind is, or how they excuse the whole thing to themselves.

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HenryBemis
For people who wonder 'but how do these organizations get all that £€¥$ to
fund their terrorism acts?

Drug trafficking, robberies, kidnapping. Counterfeit products and human
trafficking are also two more standard 'revenue streams'. In the case of ISIS
apparently it was stealing and selling Oil. Depending on the country you live
in, bank robberies either contribute to a gangs' income, or if funds local or
international terrorism. This is the main reason police does its best to
arrest them. The loss of a bank's £€¥$ is bad, threatening some bank employees
and customers is bad, funding the next 'Sri Lanka' is far worse (I am NOT
pointing fingers or taking sides - just using this example as it was the most
recent).

~~~
joe_the_user
A lot of terrorist organizations have state sponsors. Al Qaida began through
sponsorship of the US and Saudi Arabia in an effort to bog down the pro-Soviet
Regime then in power in Afghanistan.

Edit: Of course, illegal activities help to both supplement state funds and
hide their source.

~~~
imglorp
I worked for a tech company in the past that had a product that would help
stop kidnappings.

We made a sale to the government of a large third world country. They made
their first payment and we began to deploy, but obstacles kept arising and
nothing more came from it. The subsequent payments weren't made, the product
might have disappeared from their warehouse, etc., so we fled the deal.

As it turns out, half the government wanted to end kidnappings, while the
other half was perpetrating them. Either side was quick to pocket any lose
budget on its way to unwary vendors.

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chriselles
Relative risk/reward.

Kidnapping in the US is extremely high risk and low reward.

Kidnapping in the developing world is a different story.

In some places, kidnappings are now being conducted further down the wealth
food chain targeting middle class victims at the maximum daily withdraw cash
limit in ATMs.

Transactional, high velocity kidnapping,

Unlikely to be investigated and followed up by overwhelmed local law
enforcement.

~~~
mr_luc
I remember that in Ecuador and Peru people called that kind of kidnapping
"secuestro express."

~~~
tyurok
In Brazil, it's "sequestro relâmpago", roughly translated to "lightning
kidnapping"

~~~
MuffinFlavored
If in Brazil you are carrying a concealed weapon like some people do in
America, will as many "sequestro relâmpagos" still be successful?

~~~
JamesBarney
I only have one friend who was kidnapped and having a concealed weapon
wouldn't have helped him. He had three guys pointing weapons at him before he
even realized he was being kidnapped.

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billabul
'ndrangheta (one of the strongest mafia in italy) in early days built entire
cities kidnapping people, many child of italian entrepreneurs

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Ndrangheta#Modern_history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Ndrangheta#Modern_history)

[https://www.fabioitri.com/scomparsi_their_bodies_will_never_...](https://www.fabioitri.com/scomparsi_their_bodies_will_never_be_found-r7566)

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z3t4
If you think you are about to get kidnapped, the earlier you attempt to escape
the more likely you will succeed. The longer you wait the harder it will get.
So try to escape _right away_.

~~~
trabant00
This sounds to me like reading the statistic backwards in terms of causation.
I imagine people who can and are willing to try escape as soon as they can
while people who either don't want to try or simply can't will never escape.

~~~
TACIXAT
You can cause a scene earlier, break windows, set off car alarms. That's a lot
harder once you're in a vehicle or in a house being held.

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fvrghl
> In 2017 Qatar reportedly paid $1 billion to an al-Qaeda affiliate and Iran
> to win the release of a royal hunting party.

These numbers are wild. Why doesn't this happen more often in the US?

~~~
watwut
Better law enforcement. This sort of business happen in countries with
corruption off the charts.

~~~
C1sc0cat
Or those that have a collapsed state I worked for a Huge Arab firm in the
London office and one our guys in Beruit got grabbed - we got him back.

Not sure if it was just cash or "we know where your mum lives be terrible if
anything happed to that street".

~~~
ohaideredevs
Speaking of Beirut.

"Four Soviet diplomats were kidnapped in September 1985 by a fundamentalist
group called the Islamic Liberation Organization. Russia quickly dispatched
its Alpha group, tasked with counter-terrorism hostage-rescue operations, to
Beirut. Once the team learned that Arkady Katkov, a consular attaché and one
of the four hostages, was killed, they responded quickly by tracking down and
locating one of the kidnappers’ leaders (or relative it’s not clear). In order
to send a clear message to the terrorists, Alpha group members castrated the
hostage, cut him down into pieces and sent him to the hostage takers. They
also threatened to kill more of the kidnappers’ relatives if the Soviet
diplomats were not free."

[https://blogbaladi.com/how-russia-responded-to-the-
kidnappin...](https://blogbaladi.com/how-russia-responded-to-the-kidnapping-
of-four-soviet-diplomats-in-beirut-in-1985/)

