Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Anatomy of an Abduction

Among the interesting tidbits in this is the high reward for engaging in terrorist-related kidnappings this while also, like this infographic shows, there was little or no planning. 

With little planning, an ill-equipped group of Islamic extremists succeeded in kidnapping 32 European citizens in the Algerian desert in 2003, holding them for up to six months and ransoming them for 5 million euros.
Released for the first time, a rare video made by the militants during the 2003 kidnapping, acquired by Swiss intelligence and recently obtained by The New York Times, shows that the kidnappers were amateurs. The ease with which they abducted the hostages, however, and the ransom they earned, shows how the militants developed the perfect crime with which to bankroll their operations.
“Kidnapping is basically low-hanging fruit,” said Rudolph Atallah, who was the director of African counterterrorism policy for the Pentagon at the time of the kidnapping.
...“This video shows, No. 1, the lack of sophistication of the jihadists,” said Mr. Atallah, who reviewed the video. “It also crucially shows that they were ad-libbing. They had never done this before.”
Read the full article and see the videos from the New York Times [HERE].