The kidnapping and occasional executions of travelers by such groups as the PKK in Turkey, Al-Faran in Kashmir, FARC in Colombia, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, make big headlines but don't reflect the real dangers of kidnapping. Even the recent kidnappings of nuns in Sierra Leone, oil workers in Yemen, researchers in Irian Jaya, journalists in Chechnya, or UN workers in Tajikistan don't properly convey the real threat of being kidnapped. The reality is that only one out of 10 kidnappings become public knowledge. Also, it generates extremely good business. If you happen to find yourself as one of the 200 foreigners who get kidnapped every year, there's little for you to do but hope that you'll be well treated.

Kidnapping is an ancient sport designed to generate cash, embarrass your enemies, find wives and/or force political action. Of the 8000 known kidnappings worldwide, 6500 were in Latin America with over half occurring in Colombia. There are, on average, ten people kidnapped in Colombia every day. The numbers increase dramatically when narco/terror groups like FARC kidnap an entire army garrison as they did last year. Some are multi-million dollar deals with nobody the wiser, and some are quick street abductions with $5000 payoffs the same-day profits.

The ideal victim of a kidnapping is a mid- to high-executive professional working for a multi-national corporation overseas. Foreign executives in Colombia will fetch $500,000-$2 million (depending on your point-man's negotiating skills), usually in a quick insurance-funded payoff. In Yemen over 100 foreigners have been kidnapped by tribesmen since 1993. Most are released safely. They target Italians tourists (over 1000 Italians visit Yemen every year) and businesspeople. Recently one tourist was shot and injured when a busload of 18 inconsiderate Italians ran a kidnapper's road block and were fired on.

Kidnappers can come in all shapes and demeanors. For example, Mexicans demand big ransoms, Peruvians and Brazilians like quick and easy grabs, Filipinos and Venezuelans prefer grabbing kids for cheap bucks, Colombians and Chechens go for convoluted, treacherous negotiations, Yemens and Tajiks treat you like visiting royalty but they are demanding political concessions not your wallet. There is an entire business category run by ex-spooks and ex-military intelligence folks that do nothing but return hostages, and most Americans, still putting their picture on a milk cartons, will get them back safely.

Give the Chechens a gold star for creativity during the war, commandeering buses, airplanes or even ferryboats. Now they snag just about anyone who has a logo on his hat. In the Philippines about 200 people are kidnapped each year. Around 10 percent of them are found dead even after the ransom has been paid.

Latin America is the most dangerous place in the world for kidnappings. More than 6000 people are kidnapped in Latin America every year. Colombia accounts for 4000 of those. Just under half of those kidnappings were carried out by FARC and ELN. The kidnapping business is estimated to be a $200 million a year, tax free business in Colombia. Brazil accounts for 800 kidnappings a year with 104 in Rio alone. In Mexico, there are as many as 2000 kidnappings a year where the average ransom is around $5000 for regular folks, but in the multi-million dollar range for bankers and businessmen. About 100 people are grabbed in Guatemala-mostly children of wealthy families and foreign workers. Ecuador and Venezuela each report around 200 kidnappings a year, and Peru estimates 100 hostages taken annually. In Honduras, primarily around the city of San Pedro Sula former Salvadoran guerillas have formed 10 gangs that kidnap about 120 people a year.

Keep in mind that all these statistics don't represent unreported snatches. Colombian groups are considered to be a major exporter of kidnapping to surrounding countries. Their twist is killing the families if they don't get the ransom. If kidnapping slows down they could always work for a credit card collection agency.

Although the media reports the big cases, most victims are ranchers and small businessmen. Foreign executives who work in the oil and energy industries are tops on most kidnappers' wish lists but aren't numerically high because of the security provided. The new trend is to snatch regular folks and then force their relatives to use their cash card to pay the ransom.

These days, Chubb, Fireman's Fund, AIG and Lloyds of London will write policies designed to make sure you come back alive if you get abducted. The premiums run from US$2500 to $100,000 a year, depending on where you plan to go and how long you plan to stay. Lloyds of London has experienced a 50 percent jump in policies written over the last five years, and more insurance companies are looking into offering the coverage. What do you get for your money? Actually quite a bit. Insurers will pay the ransom payment, medical treatment, interpreters and even your salary while you are involuntarily detained. The services of a security company to help spring you, (sorry no Rambo for Rent here) is included in the coverage.

Chubb has the best deal in town; annual payments total about US$1000 for every $10 million of ransom payments released. If you are deemed to be "high profile" or the target of previous kidnapping attempts, the premium skyrockets to US$25,000 a year. Kidnapping and ransom insurance for dangerous countries like Colombia cost around $20,000 a year for a million dollar policy, but expect to pay $60,000-$100,000 for a decent sized policy. Coverage is about half that for Brazil. In addition to insurance, armored cars and armed bodyguards are big in Latin America. Expect to pay between $60,000-$150,000 for an armor plated Suburban or Lincoln. Armed bodyguards should run you about $90-$250 a day depending on the country you're in. One alarming development is the increase in kidnapping of small children of wealthy victims. The only positive note is that the ransom for kidnapped children is a cheap $2000-$5000 with usually same day turnaround to avoid expensive diaper bills.

Expats who live in foreign countries are at most risk, while the casual tourist or in-and-out business visitor are almost risk free. Travelers who journey to remote regions in drug areas face a higher risk.

Kidnapping usually involves a group of men hustling you off the street into a car. They grabbed you because for some dumb reason you were profiled in the local paper as an "important executive and rising young star of Widget Exports." You also have a predictable routine for leaving work at the same time and walking the last few blocks from the train station. This makes it easy for the kidnappers to be ready with their car, engine running, gaffers tape at the ready.

You will most likely be blindfolded, gagged and bound. If you squirm or bite they'll thump you a few times to settle you down. Your first destination is a house or country hideout where you are kept in a room with no windows. To prove their point, they may photograph you with a Polaroid or record your voice on a cheap hand-held recorder. They may interrogate you to find out just how much you're worth. Then you will sit and wait, and wait and wait. If they don't get their initial demands, they may cause you pain or remove body parts (little fingers are popular) to get their point across. What will eventually happen? It depends.

According to Control Risks Group of London, about 40 percent of all hostages are released safely after the ransom is paid. Not very good odds. Having an insurance policy will make your chances of generating the necessary number of bucks a lot easier. But you won't have a choice should someone try to storm the joint in a rescue effort. About 34 percent of hostages are rescued from their captives before the ransom is paid. Being saved is perhaps a hostage's greatest threat. Let's say your right wing, NRA supporting, big game hunter boss (who voted for Ross Perot) says "Get my boy outta there now!" He sends in a highly trained team of hand picked ex-SEALS, kicked into action by a cigar smoking buzz cut. Oops, he just screwed up.

Approximately 79 percent of all hostages are killed during rescue attempts, according to Kroll Associates. Montesino's annihilation of the guerillas at the Japanese embassy without major casualties was extremely unusual.

So what if your wife won't return the kidnapper's calls and your boss figures he has really no need for you because the temp is generating twice the business you did. Nearly 11 percent of kidnapping victims are released without payment, either through negotiation or the abductors' realization that he or she will not be paid. In Colombia a mere 3 percent of kidnappers are convicted compared to 95 percent in the U.S.

Want to know how to avoid being kidnapped? Stay away form suspect places, vary your routine, keep a low profile, stay out of the local papers, avoid society bashes, live low key, use a driver/bodyguard and stay on top of the local threat assesment.

The most dangerous phases of a hijacking or hostage situation are the beginning and, if there is a rescue attempt, the end. At the outset, the terrorists typically are tense and high-strung and may behave irrationally. It is extremely important that you remain calm and alert and manage your own behavior.

Who do you call when someone is kidnapped? Don't call Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal or Jackie Chan. You'll probably end up dead. Don't even call the police, they will jack up the ransom demand and be in cahoots with the kidnappers. You should call your insurance company followed by the embassy, and a professional hostage negotiator. DP advises that anyone in a hostage situation contact a professional in their home country before they contact the local police. Better yet, educate yourself about kidnapping before you find out the hard way.

A typical KRE policy with $1 million limit covers a family of 11 people. In Latin America, business is intertwined with extended family from grandparents down to grandchildren. An annual policy would cost between $7000 in Brazil up to a maximum of $26,000 in Colombia. When you cover a business family, you will always schedule each person. Corporations usually buy blanket policies that cover all employees.

In most countries except Mexico and Colombia unless you work for a large oil company, a $10 million policy for a Fortune 100 company will cost about $350,000 a year. Insurers like Seitlin also can write one shot, one month $1 million KRE policies for travelers and businesspeople for between $2500-$3000. Is it necessary? Well Seitlin believes you'd be crazy to do business south of Miami without $5-$10 million in KRE coverage. In Colombia a ransom less than a million is considered a joke.

Some tips when you are invited to stay overnight.

• Try to avoid countries notorious for kidnapping: Colombia, Mexico, Chechnya, Yemen are just some. Americans doing business for Fortune 100 oil and mining companies in Colombia are at highest risk; low key backpackers and travelers are usually at low risk.
• Strange as it sounds, the odds of extracting you are better in areas where kidnapping is done in conjunction with the police. Brazil and Mexico are just two countries where kidnapping is a business conducted in conjunction with the local police. Areas where kidnapping is intertwined with Maoist or Marxist ideology are much harder.
• If someone you know is kidnapped, do not contact the police and do not talk to the press. Contact your embassy, the insurance company and/or a security consultancy to take the next steps. If you have a KRE policy, someone will be dispatched to act as a counselor within hours.
• Tape record or write down any messages and do not commit to anything until the counselor or security help arrives.
• Most security counselors will be ex-CIA, Mossad or other intelligence service pensioners. The British firms pull from their own pool of ex-SAS, Scotland Yard and MI-5 folks.
• Your security counselor will not make any decisions but he will facilitate the process and act as a coach, a mediator and a go between. They will usually setup a committee that analyze input and demands and then make decisions. Usually the decisions are: Pay the money, stall, or negotiate the ransom downwards. Not the best of jobs for amateurs.
• The fatality rate on security-consultant handled kidnappings is a reassuring 2 percent compared to 9 percent for homemade efforts. Part of the skew is because some kidnap deaths can occur at the attack-the victims may die of illness, heart attack, or they can be killed during rescue attempts.

Seitlin & Company

2001 N.W. 107 Avenue, Suite 200
Miami, Florida 33172
(305) 591-0090, FAX: (305) 593-6993
e-mail: kandrguy@aol.com

Seitlin is the largest insurance broker in Florida that also does a ripping business in kidnap/ransom insurance. Luckily he only has to pay out about once or twice a year. Their clients include mostly wealthy Latin American families, corporations that do business south of the border and employees of multinational corporations. He can provide policies from all the major insurance brokers

 

Chubb Insurance of Canada

http://masc-web.com/chubb/english/epd/kidnap.htm
Chubb offers Kidnap/Ransom/Extortion (KRE) coverage for busy executives with a healthy level of fear. Extortion can also cover computer hackers, contamination or even a computer virus.

 

Lloyds of London

1 Portsoken Street
London England, E1 8DF
(071) 480-4000, FAX: (071) 480-4170
http://www.cyberapp.com/kidnap.html

 

Black Fox International, Inc.

P. O. Box 1187
205 Garvin Boulevard
Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania 19079
(800) 877-2445, (610) 461-6690, FAX: (610) 586-5467
e-mail: jc@black-fox.com e-mail
http://black-fox.com/kidnap.htm

 

Security Resources

Security is big business these days. Americans spend about 90 billion on security every year. We only spend $40 billion on public police. In California there are four times as many private police as there are government police. In countries like Russia and South Africa people don't even bother calling for the police. Areas affected by kidnapping also have a number of local firms that provide security and protection. Inquire at your local embassy or with other multinational companies.

 

Pinkerton Risk Assessment Services

1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 901
Arlington, Virginia 22209
(703) 525-6111, FAX: (703) 525-2454
www.pinkertons.com
fjohns@pinkertons.com

Once on the trail of bank robbers in the Wild West, Pinkerton has gone global and high-tech. Today, you can get risk assessments of over 200 countries on-line or in person. Pinkerton offers access to a database of more than 55,000 terrorist actions and daily updated reports on security threats. For the nonactive, you can order printed publications that range from daily risk assessment briefings to a monthly newsletter. Their services are not cheap, but how much is your life worth? Annual subscriptions to the on-line service start at about US$7000, and you can order various risk and advisory reports that run from US$200-$700 each. Pinkerton gets down and dirty with its counterterrorism programs, hostage negotiators, crisis management and travel security seminars.

The service is designed for companies who send their employees overseas or need to know what is going on in the terrorist world. Some reports are mildly macabre, with their annual businesslike graphs charting maimings, killings, assaults and assassinations. Others are truly enlightening. In any case, Pinkerton does an excellent job of bringing together the world's most unpleasant information and providing it to you in concise, intelligent packages.

Unlimited on-line access to their database on 230 countries will run you US$6000 a year. You will find the information spotty, with a preponderance of information on South and Central America. Many of the write-ups on everything from Kurds to the Islamic Jihad are written by young college students with little in-country experience. On the other hand, there are many holes that are filled by CIA country profiles (available at any library for free).

If you want to save a few bucks, for US$4000 a year (US$5000 overseas), you can get a full subscription of daily, weekly, quarterly and annual risk assessments, as well as analysts' commentaries, a world status map and a fax service that keeps you abreast of fast breaking events.

Cheapskates can opt for the US$2250 standard package, which eliminates the daily reports sent via fax, but provides you most of the other elements. If you want to order | la carte, expect services that range from a US$30 personalized trip package, to US$250 printouts of existing risk and travel advisories, to accessing the company's Country Data bank for US$1000 per country.

 

Control Risks Group, London

8200 Greensboro Drive, Suite 1010
McLean, Virginia 22102
(703) 893-0083, FAX: (703) 893-8611
83 Victoria Street
London, England SW1H-OHW
[44] (171) 222-1552

This international management consulting company specializes in political, business and security risk analysis and assessments, due diligence and fraud investigations, preventative security and asset protection, crisis management planning and training, crisis response and unique problem solving. With extensive experience in kidnapping, extortion and illegal detention resolution, they have handled more than 700 cases in 79 countries. Control Risks has 14 offices around the world including Washington, D.C., London, New York, Bogota, Mexico City, Bonn, Amsterdam, Manila, Melbourne, Moscow, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Their international, political and security risk analysis research department is the largest of its kind in the private sector and has provided hundreds of companies with customized analyses of the political and security risks they may face doing business around the globe. An on-line Travel Security Guide addresses security issues in more than 100 countries.

Emergency Numbers for CRG:

LONDON: (071) 222 1552 or (071) 481 1851 (Nightline)
UNITED STATES: (703) 893 0083
AUSTRALIA: (613) 416 1533

 

Kroll Associates

900 Third Avenue, 7th Floor,
New York, New York 10022
800) 824-7502
(212) 833-3206, FAX: (212) 750-8112
www.krollassociates.com

A security/investigative firm founded in 1972 by Jules Kroll and owned by Equifax (the credit info folks). In addition to gumshoeing on an international and corporate level, Kroll also offers a very useful service for business travelers. You can use your credit card to order a Travel Watch report for $9.95 each. They also provide customer security services for business. Kroll has information over 300 cities worldwide that covers transportation to and from the city, emergency telephone numbers as well as health and safety concerns. They also have special reports on countries an regions. There are also new security tips on the Internet and computers, the airlines and in depth country reports available.

 

Ackerman Group

166 Kennedy Causeway, Suite 700
Miami Beach, Florida 33141
(305) 865-0072

Mike Ackerman specializes in crisis resolution or hostage return through providing the financial and security resources required to resolve hostage situations safely.

 

TroubleShooters

USA: (352) 343-2406, FAX: (352) 343-3864, Canada: (403) 885-5273

Ex-US military folks who freelance for hostage situations and can provide aviation services for overseas extractions. They can provide assistance for executive protection, hostage retrieval and missing person searches.

 

These are just a smattering of listings for folks who want to look further into this unfortunate growth business. Security firms can often prevent the problem from occurring. It is considered dumb to hire anyone to use force or violence to spring kidnap victims.

Target Communications Systems Gmbh

P.O. Box 730301, D-60505
Frankfurt, Germany
(069) 673551, FAX: 671030

Offers a 100-page catalog of electronic security devices that one could misconstrue as being business eavesdropping equipment to give you a leg up on that next bid. Learn how to read envelopes without opening them, use pen sized transmitters and leave behind a sugar cube sized transmitter. Also info on tax havens, passports, and how to protect yourself from businessmen like yourself.

DAW

12400 Blue Ridge Boulevard
Grandview, Missouri 64030
(816) 765-2539

Forget the old Tommy gun in the violin case. Be safe and persuasive with your very own Dignitary Protection Briefcase. It is a Halliburton equipped with a 32 round Mac11 machine gun complete with laser sight so you don't look stupid holding the briefcase up to your shoulder to scare off attackers. Around $2500 (silenced version is extra).

Inter American Security Products, IN.c

13605 SOuth Dixie Highway Suite 136-1
Miami, Florida 33176
(305) 256-0370, FAX: (305) 256-9587
interarm@thenet.net

Concealable bullet proof vests starting at only $100. Also heavy duty flak jackets for around $500. Also see listings under "Save Yourself."

Executive Protection Associates

316 California Avenue
Reno, Nevada 8909
(408) 556-0430, (408) 244-4750
epai-info@iapps.org

or

Kirchgasse 9
D-71154 Nefringen, Germany
[49] (0732) 9852 21,
FAX: [49] (7032) 9852 22

Feeling paranoid? Why not hire EPA to find out who's bugging your phone, tailing your limo or planning your abduction.

Professional Bodyguard Association

P.O. Box 11493
London, N3 2TH England
xsas@msn.com

The e-mail address pretty much says it all. This group will also provide training for groups of up to four protectors in training. There is also a 800-page Bodyguard Training Manual available for study at home for 45 pounds (payable in Sterling only via bank draft). They are looking to train more Yanks so they have offered price reduction to offset the air fare costs. For more info, send five one-dollar bills (for postage), and they will send you a prospectus.

Falcon Global

1126 Washington Boulevard, Suite D
Williamsport, Pennsylvania 17701
(717) 321-6220, FAX: (717) 321-6222

Falcon Global has elevated the goon business to a professionally managed level. They can provide security during labor disputes without provoking reruns of Matawa.

There are, would you believe, more guns per capita in Yemen than in any other country in the world. Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world--with an average per capita earning of US $600 a year, but this does not hinder most of the male population from toting the latest version in automatic fire power. The other favorite, after guns, is qat-a leaf that when chewed in large quantities induces a mildly narcotic trance.

Wander anywhere in Yemen after lunch, government buildings (well, not there, they'll all have gone home), local markets or private houses and you'll find most of the male population chewing the proverbial cud, so to speak, with eyes in various states of glaziness. The whole male population goes into a collective trance. And if you want to join in about $4 will be enough to procure you enough qat for an afternoon's chewing.

I decide to visit the north, where Yemen shares a common border with neighboring Saudi Arabia, to the general discontent of both countries. Heading from the ancient capital, Sana'a, I take a taxi for the four hour ride to Sa'da, the provincial capital of the north, an area where tourists are more or less nonexistent.

A few kilometers outside Sa'da, a ten minute journey by car along the single asphalt road, I arrive at the suq al silah-the weapons market. It is in these markets that most of the tribal population buy the thousands of weapons sold each year in Yemen. It's an arms dealer's paradise; anything can be sold and everything is sold. I am offered an AK-47 for US$300, which I politely decline, (convinced I'm being ripped off). But from the wooden stalls, the dealers offer almost anything: alongside the AK's are American made M-16's, G-3's, (an expensive US $1000), Belgium FN's, Rocket Propelled Grenades, (RPG-7's-a mere US $500), warheads, night vision binoculars, fragmentation grenades, flares, pistols--Lugers, Walther PPK's, 9mm Brownings...take your pick, (starting price around US $15), military webbing...even the odd tank is up for grabs! It's everything you'll ever need to start a small war or equip your own private army; and in Yemen, the hundreds of different tribes are little less than private armies.

I watch as wild looking tribesmen stream into the suq to test weapons, although-God forbid-there is nothing as formal as a firing range. Guns are simply taken a small distance from the suq where, hopefully, nobody will be foolish enough to wander around. They're fired before being brought back for half an hour's bargaining over numerous cups of sweet tea. There is a refreshing informality to the scene. There is none of the pedantic questions of the modern western world involved in these happy transactions. No license necessary, no boring ID checks, none of the usual boring questions inquiring if you are of sound mind or are you barking mad to want a 12mm heavy machine gun. Are you a responsible adult? No, have you got a police record? No problem. (Visa cards, though, like American Express are not accepted).

Photographs, however, mine in particular, seem to present something of a problem. They are, I am abruptly told by a passing tribesman, mamnua-illegal. For a place where the boys in blue are just a little thin on the ground, (well, nonexistent actually), the idea of something being illegal is intriguing. However, I am feeling distinctly confident about my right to do as I please. In my pocket, I have a permit from the local governor which states that I can go anywhere I like. With a triumphant, probably not very nice, grin, I tell the tribesman that if he has any problems he can complain to the governor. His reply wipes the smile off my face: "The governor," he says, "has no authority here...this is tribal territory." I look to my guide, Hamid, who is from the governor's office, for moral support. He is squirming with embarrassment, and does not contradict the tribesman. This may have something to do with the fact that Hamid is not carrying an AK-47. But for once I am not alone, and some tribesmen stick up for me, saying that photos are no problem. An argument ensues, and I take advantage of it to slink off in the search for fresh photos hoping that no one will notice that the subject of the argument has disappeared.

You might be wondering if there's a down side to so many weapons floating around: indeed there is, and it comes in the form of blood feuds, which Yemenis seem to covet as if they're going out of style. If you should accidentally kill a Yemeni, the best thing you can do is make a mad dash for the airport. Dialing the local equivalent of 911 will not do a lot of good-even if you can find a telephone. Otherwise, if you're lucky, you'll end up paying blood money to the family--how about $10,000 for the price of a human life? Although it does depend on whom you kill. If you're not so lucky you'll find the deceased's many brothers, uncles, cousins etc., paying a not-so-social call on you.

To gain a better insight into the world of blood feuds I dropped in on a prearranged qat chewing session with a local tribal sheikh, (family head). Removing my shoes, I join the other qat chewers in a long well-furnished room with cushions set around the edge. Set in each place is the general paraphernalia for qat chewing: lots of bottles of Coca-Cola and water pipes. Above each cushion there is a peg where chewers hang, not their coats, but their Kalashnikovs. It is only when I ask my host, Abdullah, about blood feuds that I learn that only a few months earlier his own brother was killed by a member of another tribe. He narrates the events that led to his brother's death with the detached dispassion of someone who has put his grief behind him.

I ask if he knows the identity of the killer. He does indeed, which bodes bad news for someone. "The man who killed my brother has left the area and headed south," he says-which sounds to me like acute common sense. So, what will happen next? He replies calmly and matter of factly: "When this man returns or whenever he is found, whatever is sooner, I will kill him," as if it is the most natural thing in the world-which it is-to personally avenge a brother. I ask, in a typically western manner, about the police. Might he not be arrested? He draws on his large and elegant water pipe before smiling gently, as if amused at the thought of the police doing anything, and says: "The police will do nothing; they will say it is a matter of honor, a tribal affair." And doubtless it will be.

-Roddy Scott