Tag: kidnapping
Police upscaling efforts to tackle kidnappings
Recent weeks have seen a noticeable increase in kidnappings around South Africa. National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola stated these incidents were a “concern,”...
Nigerian bandits strategically target school children for kidnappings – here’s why
In some parts of Nigeria, this scenario is not just the stuff of nightmares – it has become all too common in the past...
Kidnappings in Chad could spark a regional security crisis
Kidnappers have terrorised Chad’s southern Mayo-Kebbi West and Logone Oriental provinces for over two decades. Between 2020 and 2023, the number of victims and...
Ransom kidnappings challenge North Cameroon
In just three years (2015–18), kidnappers in North Cameroon collected ransom money of around €3 million (CFAF 2 billion), according to Garoua police. This...
Kidnappings in the Sahel – a favoured weapon of war
Over 180 kidnappings were recorded in the war-torn countries of Mali and Burkina Faso in the first half of 2023 – an average of...
ISS: To reduce kidnappings, South Africa’s police must tackle armed robbery
Kidnapping in South Africa is four times higher than 10 years ago. In the last three months of 2022, the latest period for which...
ISS: Cross-border cooperation could curb kidnappings in Mozambique
Kidnapping for ransom has been rife in Mozambique for almost two decades. Asian businessmen or their descendants and relatives are the most common targets....
Boko Haram kidnappings signal expansion, desperation
The masked men from Boko Haram entered the village of Shiroro in Nigeria’s Niger State from the nearby Hudawa forest. They fired their weapons...
Kidnapping kingpin’s alleged accomplice nabbed with hijacked vehicle
South African police have arrested a 43-year-old suspect believed to be linked to detained suspected kidnapping kingpin, Faizal Charloos, following an integrated intelligence-driven operation,...
ISS: Kidnapping for ransom on the rise in North Cameroon
Since 2013, communities in Cameroon’s Far North Region have suffered attacks from the violent extremist group Boko Haram. The divisions of Mayo-Tsanaga, Mayo-Sava and...
Who’s at risk of being kidnapped in Nigeria?
Nigeria ranks among the kidnapping hotspots of the world.
Over 3 000 people were kidnapped in Nigeria in the first half of 2021 alone. The...
ISS: Who gets kidnapped in South Africa?
The kidnapping of the four young Moti brothers in South Africa in October 2021 placed this type of crime in the spotlight. The country’s...
ISS: Kidnapping in South Africa: rely on data not social media
Statistics on the motives for kidnapping and who is most at risk are both surprising and concerning.
Few crimes strike fear into South Africans as...
Gulf of Guinea is world hotspot for kidnappings at sea
A steep increase in kidnappings at sea – 40% - make the Gulf of Guinea off Africa’s west coast the world hotspot for this...
Eritrea student kidnapping sparks Ethiopian protest
Thousand pf protesters took to the streets in Ethiopian cities, demanding Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed do more to tackle simmering ethnic violence following the...
Kidnapping off Cameroon
A number of seamen were kidnapped after an attack on their vessel off Cameroon in the piracy-plagued Gulf of Guinea, a source in the...
Kidnapping at eastern DR Congo mine
Gunmen kidnapped a South African and a Zimbabwean worker at Banro Corp’s gold mine in the east Congolese province Maniema, an army spokesman said.
Dieudonne...
Lebanese kidnapped in Nigeria
Gunmen in Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers state kidnapped two Lebanese workers helping to build a road, a police spokesman told Reuters.
The workers were abducted from...
Aid workers kidnapped in Ghana
Two Canadian women working for an aid agency were kidnapped at a golf club in Ghana’s second city Kumasi this week, police said.
The women,...
South Sudan denies kidnapping, executions
South Sudan rejects UN allegations its security services kidnapped two prominent government critics exiled in Kenya, flew them to Juba and days later executed...
Two killed, three abducted in Nigeria
Kidnappers in Nigeria killed a British woman, a Nigerian man and abducted three others in Kaduna, local police and the British High Commission said.
Kidnappings...
Suspects arrested in connection with Uganda kidnapping
Uganda said suspects were arrested in connection with last week’s kidnapping of an American tourist and her tour guide in a national park while...
Kidnapping, shootings in Kenya
Gunmen kidnapped an Italian volunteer in south-east Kenya and shot five people on Tuesday, police said, in the first abduction of a...
Cameroon separatists told to lay down arms
The president of Cameroon demanded Anglophone separatists lay down their arms, a day after dozens of schoolchildren were seized in a kidnapping...
Killings and kidnappings in Somalia
Gunmen from Somalia's Al Shabaab group killed six people including four soldiers in the streets of the capital, a day after the...
Four kidnapped in Libya
An unidentified armed group kidnapped three Filipinos and a Korean working as technicians at a water plant in south eastern Libya, an...
Buhari to visit kidnapping, clash sites
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will visit the state where 110 schoolgirls were abducted by suspected Islamist militants , his office said, as...
First person convicted for Chibok kidnapping
Nigeria convicted the first person to stand trial for the Chibok girls kidnapping, a crime that made Islamist militant group Boko Haram...
Americans, Canadians kidnapped in Nigeria
Kidnappers abducted two Americans and two Canadians in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, killing two police officers, a police spokesman said....
Boko Haram thought to be behind Nigeria kidnap
Suspected Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped 10 members of a university research team prospecting for oil in north-east Nigeria, the state oil company,...
Mali charges four with kidnapping over abduction of Colombian nun
Malian authorities have charged four people with kidnapping over the abduction of a Colombian nun, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.
Gloria Cecilia Argoti...
South Sudan rebels say seize four oil workers, demand firm’s exit
South Sudanese rebels said on Monday they had kidnapped four oil workers including a Pakistani national, in a bid to force their...
Two UN officials of US, Swedish nationality kidnapped in central DR...
Unknown assailants have kidnapped two United Nations officials of American and Swedish nationality in Congo's Kasai Central province, the Congolese government said...
Two German archaeologists kidnapped in Nigeria have been freed
Two German archaeologists who were kidnapped in central Nigeria have been freed, a police official said on Sunday.
No ransom was paid when...
Armed men kidnap Colombian nun in southern Mali
Armed men have kidnapped a Colombian nun from the town where she worked in southern Mali, officials said on Wednesday.
The woman was...
Global piracy down in 2016, but kidnappings at sea up –...
More crew were kidnapped at sea in 2016 than in any of the previous 10 years, despite global piracy reaching its lowest...
Algerian forces kill commander of IS affiliate behind French murder
Algerian soldiers killed two Islamist militants including one who security sources said was a senior commander with an Islamic State-allied group that...
Kidnap, rape and looting on the rise in South Sudan
Looting, kidnapping and sexual violence are increasing in South Sudan, refugees arriving in Uganda have told the United Nations, while hunger and...
Sierra Leone diplomat is kidnapped in Nigeria
Sierra Leone's deputy high commissioner in Nigeria has been kidnapped in the northern state of Kaduna, a security source and an embassy...
Gunmen release expatriate contractors kidnapped in Niger Delta
Seven contractors, including three Australians and a South African, have been released four days after they were kidnapped by gunmen in southern...
Gunmen kidnap seven, including Australians, in Nigeria
Gunmen in southern Nigeria have killed a local driver and kidnapped as many as seven people, at least three of whom are...
Nigerian gunmen kidnap expatriate cement workers in southern city
Gunmen in southern Nigeria kidnapped three expatriate cement industry workers and killed their local driver in an early morning attack, police said...
Boko Haram kidnaps three women near Chibok town in north Nigeria
Boko Haram jihadists killed at least four villagers on Tuesday and kidnapped three women near the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok where...
Serbian engineer abducted in Libya freed, Serbian ministry says
A Serbian engineer who was abducted by unidentified kidnappers in Libya has been freed, the Serbian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Miroslav Tomic,...
Two Austrians kidnapped near Burkina Faso’s border with Mali
Two Austrian citizens, a doctor and his wife, were kidnapped overnight in northern Burkina Faso near the border with Mali, the West...
China asks Angola to tighten security as kidnappings rise
Chinese businesses have asked Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to do more to protect foreigners after a string of kidnappings, in...
Nigeria kidnap case helped to trigger fine on South Africa’s MTN
When Nigeria failed to trace owners of SIM cards used by kidnappers of a prominent politician in September, it was the final...
Nigeria kidnap case helped to trigger fine on South Africa’s MTN
When Nigeria failed to trace owners of SIM cards used by kidnappers of a prominent politician in September, it was the final...
Nigerian government denies “fresh abduction” in Damasak town
Nigeria's government denied there had been an abduction of hundreds of people in the northeast town of Damasak after its recapture from...
Thirteen Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya
Thirteen Egyptians were kidnapped in the Libyan city of Sirte, adding to seven that went missing last week in the war-torn North...
