INDIA   8/10/2010

In a swift operation, the Maduravoyal Police rescued a first-year MBA student at a Bihar-based private university who had been kidnapped for ransom. According to police sources, the kidnappers of the 22-year-old student contacted his father, a businessman in Uttar Pradesh, demanding Rs 50,000 in ransom for his son’s safe release. The father alerted his friend in Chennai who in turn informed the local police. Chennai Suburban Police formed a special team to investigate the case and located the victim in a house in Mogappair where two men were holding him. Police raided the house and rescued the victim. The kidnappers turned out to be two other MBA students from the same university who had abducted the student over a dispute about a motorcycle. (thehindu.com, 11 August 2010)

INDONESIA   8/9/2010

The attempted kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl was thwarted by the courageous actions of her parents in Taman Malim Jaya, a suburb of Malacca City. The kidnapping attempt took place at around 6:50 a.m. local time as the girl’s mother, a government servant in her forties, was about to take her to school when four men in ski masks and armed with machetes emerged from a vehicle parked nearby and ran towards them. One of the assailants smashed the driver's side window of the mother’s car while another grabbed the girl from the front passenger seat and forced her into their car. The shocked mother began screaming and honking the car horn, drawing the attention of her husband and two teenage sons, who rushed outside. The three wrestled with the assailants, allowing the girl to escape the vehicle. Realizing their plan was thwarted, the four men took off in their vehicle. Police have opened an investigation into the case. (thestar.com.my, 10 August 2010)

MEXICO   8/7/2010

Mexican marines rescued 12 people who were allegedly kidnapped by an organized crime gang in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon. According to officials, the victims had been kidnapped between August 3 and August 6 and were held in a house in the municipality of Guadalupe, near Monterrey, the state capital. None of the kidnappers have been arrested and their gang affiliation is still unclear. Mexico's northeastern border region, including Nuevo Leon, has been hit hard by escalating violence involving drug cartels, which also have branched out into kidnapping and extortion. The government blames much of the region's bloodshed on a turf war that erupted after a split between the Gulf cartel and the “Los Zetas” gang. (google.com, 7 August 2010)

AFGHANISTAN   8/6/2010

According to local police sources, the body of kidnapped Afghan parliamentary candidate who had been kidnapped July 30 in the Qarabagh District, Ghazni Province, was recovered on the side of the Qarabagh-Ab Band road by his relatives, assisted by Afghan soldiers. A member of parliament from Ghazi told reporters that members of the local council in Qarabagh, who had negotiated the release of the politician with the Taliban, wanted two of their detainees released in exchange for the candidate. As the governor refused to approve the exchange offer, the man was executed. (gulfnews.com, 7 August 2010)

SOMALIA   8/5/2010

Somali pirates seized a freighter with 24 Syrian and Egyptian crew members in the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden, the EU's anti-piracy force said, reporting the second pirate capture this week. The Saint Vincent and Grenadines-flagged ship radioed for help on August 5, reporting that she was under attack from pirates who had climbed onboard and fired shots at the crew. Helicopters were dispatched and tried to establish contact with the ship, which was carrying a cargo of sugar, but they found only an abandoned skiff nearby containing fuel and ammunition. Shortly after, warships arrived at the scene to find that the ship had reversed course and was heading back towards the Horn of Africa under the control of the pirates, who refused to respond to radio contact. Foreign naval powers have deployed dozens of warships since 2008 in a bid to secure the Gulf of Aden, a crucial maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which tens of thousands of merchant vessels pass each year. In response, pirates have gradually extended their area of operations, seizing ships as far east as the Maldives' territorial waters and as far south as the Canal of Mozambique. Naval missions have boasted success in curbing attacks but the number of hijacked ships and detained seafarers remains at one of its highest levels since Somali piracy surged in 2007. (france24.com, 6 August 2010)