Kidnapped for Ransom during a Holiday in India?

I never for one moment thought it would happen to me!”

Off on a Holiday/Vacation to the Developing World (India, Mexico, Vietnam, Colombia, Peru…..? You may want to read on……

Has the thought of a kidnapping ever occurred to you? Probably not.

That’s something that always happens to someone else after all….. OR DOES IT?

PLEASE NOTE: it doesn’t have to be a ‘criminal’ that does it, because if you’ve ever had a child with someone from another country prior to a separation, your child may be abducted and taken back to that country….

Or the government of another country may hold you for reasons of political expediency……

JUST A FEW POINTS OF KNOWLEDGE may help, after all….

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King”.

You may be going abroad for contractual reasons and in an increasingly unstable and globalised business market, the progressive use of foreign expatriate contractors in semi/failed countries, particularly within the oil and gas sector has precipitated a greater incidence of kidnap for ransom (K for R).

These episodes arise due to a variety of reasons. They include, but are not limited to, significant financial reward for criminal and revolutionary organisations but also the huge psychological impact of such an act on individuals, corporations, governments and the political capital for the perpetrators. THEREFORE, EXCELLENT RISK MITIGATION ADVICE is needed for those operating in these environments’, to combat this issue and to provide a correct response where necessary. At the basic level, just some pattern of life adjustments such as varying journey times by 15 minutes can offset a potential incident.

The author’s Kidnap for Ransom paper (available for download) is aimed at Western Executives and Tourists’ that are travelling and/or working in permissive environments’ (on a short/long term contract) within the corporate/government spectrum or just for pure research/enjoyment.

The paper examines the threat in outline, inclusive of the criminal, revolutionary psychology behind what precipitates this mode of attack and more specifically, the modus operandi of organisations that engage in Kidnap for Ransom. Also explained are the methodologies in how abductions are carried out.

Statistics do not portray an accurate appreciation of K for R owing to a reluctance from all sides of the spectrum to report matters relating to Kidnap for Ransom, and may be considered as subjective owing to this fact.

Governments’, who will frequently pay tribal/klan elders’ (in Afghanistan/Pakistan for example) to negotiate expatriate victim releases (with a percentage of the fee going to the kidnappers) don’t wish to discuss the subject owing to political considerations relating to discussion with perceived revolutionaries as well as the use of third parties in the release process.

Victims understandably, just wish to forget the episode and are essentially, untrained in the issues surrounding their abductions. THIS IS A PITY, because others', in some instances Young Women, could benefit from such advanced knowledge.

However, existing eye-witness testimony in open source literature relating to the moments leading to their seizure has permitted the identification of commonalities. Treatment at the hands of kidnappers and the ability to withstand the psychological effects of a kidnapping has been pertinent and an interview with a kidnapping victim toward the end of this paper, demonstrate the correct manner in how to conduct oneself in such a scenario.

Finally, security firms charged with protecting expatriate (foreign, usually western) workers in hostile environments’ and negotiators charged with negotiating releases clearly prefer to maintain an air of discretion with regard to their practices’ and it’s through the author’s experience of having worked on contracts for a number of risk consultancy firms that information, basic data, liaison with foreign/embassy officials and ground experience has permitted a base level of understanding of the subject at hand prior to research.

In conducting the above research, the author has used a number of case studies that have a common thread with the aim of not only identifying security failures on the part of the victim (or the protective authorities where applicable) but also, to examine the specific feature of the established patterns of activity, principally during vehicular movement that are exploited by the perpetrators.

The author also draws on how he resisted a potential abduction by 'Policemen' in a Middle East country that had seen several examples of successful abductions of "High Value" Westerners by members of the Quds Force (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps IRGC). One doesn't have to be financially rich, nor political to be a target. Just possessing the 'wrong' passport, or having the wrong appearance can be sufficient to draw unwanted attention.

Defensive measures, at the budget end for the back-packer as an example include the principle of ‘the law of threes’. At the higher end where the use of well-trained close protection officers, electronic tracking measures, the use of kidnap for ransom insurance, and finally, contingency planning together with the correct implementation of a crisis management team, inclusive of a trained negotiator are covered within the text.

The conclusion and recommendation chapter of the paper principally relate to corruption as a significant factor in the statistical increase of K for R as societies become more polarised. The need for security managers to address the reality of (western corporate) operations in developing nations’ where weak and often corrupt law enforcement agencies are not prepared to take on criminal/revolutionary organisations at best, or are at worst, complicit in order to take a percentage of profits generated from abductions is discussed.

Email me here at: paul@sigma-cybernetics.com or click below to get the document. Your life may depend on it.