Word: ransoms
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...million Ransom Libya reportedly paid to secure the release of 14 Europeans held hostage in the Sahara desert...
...months in the Sahara desert by Muslim extremists. The nine Germans, four Swiss, and one Dutch national were captured in southern Algeria by the radical Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which is allegedly linked to al-Qaeda. The German government denied claims that it had fronted a ransom of almost €5 million to secure the release of the tourists, and pledge to help track down the group's kidnappers. Space Tragedy BRAZIL A rocket exploded on its launchpad at the Alcantara Launch Center, killing 21 people and injuring 20. Those caught in the blast were mostly technicians carrying...
...Trouble in Bihar In the article "State of Fear" [June 30], you described the dire situation in the Indian state of Bihar. Thank you for shedding light on poverty and crime. The sordid fact that kidnapping for ransom is Bihar's biggest industry is a blemish on India. You reported that "even politicians may be cashing in." Although some local politicians may run kidnap syndicates, as one assembly member charged, the sorry state of affairs in Bihar is not solely the work of a few politicians; it is the result of the apathy of the Bihari people. They must rise...
...marched him across rivers and through forests, until they reached a camp hidden in a narrow gorge on the Nepalese border, hours from the nearest road. They held him there for a week, telling him they wanted a ransom of 3 million rupees ($64,000). But as the days dragged on and the police dragnet tightened, the kidnappers became nervous and dropped their price. Eventually, for the promise of $1,700, half of it as a loan, Salahuddin's abductors left him at an isolated village and fled. "I never paid," he says. "They might come back for their money...
...Kidnapping for ransom is Bihar's biggest and, these days, only industry. Between 1992 and 2001, the last year for which figures are available, local police recorded 24,338 cases of kidnapping in the state, an average of more than six a day. Officers admit the real figure may be 10 times higher than that: kidnappers typically threaten to return if the victims go to the authorities. Police say Bihar has more than 100 kidnap gangs, and they don't prey solely on the rich or famous. In Salahuddin's district of Champaran, the center of Bihar's bandit country...