November 24, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 25, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 23: The present year has seen a surge in the reported cases of kidnapping-for-ransom as so far, 71 cases have been reported to the police, whereas the number of such cases was 64 last year.

During 2007, 64 cases involving 75 persons were reported to the police and three kidnap victims were killed by their captors. But in 2008, so far 71 kidnap-for-ransom cases have been reported, involving 79 persons, and five hostages have been killed by their captors, official data showed.

Two kidnapping cases are unresolved and law-enforcement agencies are still working on them, officials said.

Acknowledging the surge in the crime, officials said short-term kidnappings were the main factor behind the present surge in kidnapping cases. “Small gangs are seen operating even in slum areas of the city, generally targeting children,” chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee Sharfuddin Memon said.

He said such gangs accepted even small amounts for releasing their victims, and the success rate of their operations was also high.

“It is not necessary that such gangs specialise in kidnapping-for-ransom cases; the involvement of common criminals has also been seen in some kidnapping-for-ransom cases,” a senior police officer said.

The officer added that some ‘mobile’ kidnappings, again short-term ones, generally took place in affluent areas of the city.

In such cases a suspect enters a car at gunpoint and tells the driver to keep on driving. During this period he keeps asking the occupants of the car, who are generally families, to surrender their valuables. He often forces the male or female victims to withdraw cash from ATMs.

However, the CPLC chief said that the role of traditional kidnapper gangs had diminished with their elimination by the law-enforcement agencies. One of the most notorious kidnappers, Mashooq Brohi, was recently killed by the police.

However, this year a new trend of kidnapping for ransom was also witnessed as religious extremists stepped into the business.

A businessman supplying petroleum products to the International Security Assistance Force was kidnapped in May in the Clifton area. A ransom call demanding $5 million was made by the kidnappers of Shaukat Afridi. In his case ransom and subsequent calls were made from the RBS (radio-based station) of Kurram Agency, in addition to some calls made from Peshawar and Afghanistan.

As it turned out, during a police raid at a religious extremists’ hideout in Baldia Town, the trussed up body of Shaukat Afridi was found in the rubble.

“We never suspected that Afridi was being held by them. Initially we were puzzled to find a trussed up body having a gunshot wound in the chest and the head at the scene. Later, we realised that he was Shaukat Afridi,” said a senior police officer.

Official statistics suggest that 1990 witnessed the highest number of kidnappings when 79 cases were reported in a single year.

The subsequent year showed a downward trend with 45 kidnappings in 1991 and much lower in the later years. However, the figures jumped in 2004 and 2005 when 39 cases were reported in the two years, the data showed.

During the period from January 1990 to April 2007, a total of 441 kidnapping-for-ransom cases were reported, of which 295 were solved and in 146 cases the victims were released against payment of ransom or otherwise, but the gangs could not be apprehended. Similarly, 146 gangs were apprehended, the data showed.