TAKEN

Dissecting the Anatomy of a Kidnapping and Trends Commonly Seen in Abductions

- Ed Calderon

Abduction scenarios can originate in a myriad of ways. It’s not always about guys in ski masks jumping out of a panel van and putting you in zip-ties. Many of the students who’ve been through the training that I’ve provided over the years dealing with counter custody have actually faced situations of irregular custody. This may involve being restrained illegally within the confines of their own community by people they actually know, or during home-invasion situations. So, don’t close yourself off to the possibilities of this being a threat in your environment. It’s not something you only need to think about or prepare for if you travel outside of your hometown or country.

The Feathered Snake Eating its Tail

For our intents and purposes, we’re going to be focusing on abduction and kidnapping for ransom, being used as a political hostage, for retribution, or as access to someone else’s monetary means. Although each of these situations have a different purpose behind them, they usually have the same planning and action processor cycle.

Selection and Surveillance

The first part of the cycle is selection. Criminal groups will select an individual out of the many or out of a specific group that holds a known value to them, be it because of their economic means, the means of the company they represent, their social circle, nationality, religion, or just because he or she is in possession of something they want.