Over the course of the past months, ethnically-based militias have targeted the industry by kidnapping foreign workers and destroying critical infrastructure, shutting down up to 20 percent Nigeria's total daily output.
The staging settles down after that, with a few silhouetted palm trees in green and gold, enabling the basic story to come through: the kidnapping of Gilda by an entourage mistaking her for Rigoletto's mistress, the lecherous Duke's rape of Gilda, her unwavering crush and her father's quest for revenge.
In the soap opera he earned notoriety by kidnapping Sally Webster and her children, a performance that won him Villain of the Year at the National Soap Opera awards.
The kidnapping was reported by local newspaper The Times of India on Sunday.
Timbuktu is one of the many former tourist destinations in Mali that foreign embassies have deemed too dangerous for visitors due to the risk of kidnapping by Aqim.
With regard to the attack on the 19-year-old, Collins had also denied kidnapping his victim, but was told by the judge that he will not face trial over the charge.
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Urbina was arrested in March of 1998 by the Chicago Police Department and charged with kidnapping, raping and brutally beating a woman.
It builds on the standard kidnapping and ransom policy by bringing in consultants to train crews in security, prepare emergency safe rooms where crews can lock themselves in until a hijacked ship can be retaken, and provide round-the-clock advice to captains on safe routes to take.
The term "tiger kidnapping" comes from the fact that the criminals mimic the jungle predators by stalking their victims before pouncing.
After the kidnapping, remaining crew-members - operated by Augusta Offshore SpA, a Naples-based shipping company in southern Italy - had sailed the vessel to safety.
Tensions continued to rise with the kidnapping earlier this month of dozens of Sunnis by the Lebanese Shia al-Mekdad clan in retaliation for the abduction of one of their members in Syria.
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True, Turkish threats against Syria in late 1998 for harbouring Abdullah Ocalan led to the Kurdish rebel leader's expulsion and eventual kidnapping by Turkish special forces in Kenya.
According to a Washington Post report, a former German minister was informed by the former US ambassador that the US had made this mistake in kidnapping, and according to the report the ambassador had asked the former German minister to keep it quiet in order to prevent public knowledge of the CIA rendition program.
"Dateline NBC" aired my story in 2011, and 37 years after my kidnapping, my real mother found me by seeing me on the show.
Ackerman concedes that the kidnapping and extortion threats he describes are more likely to be committed by a criminal gang than a terrorist cell.
The story is awkwardly split, opening in tremulous peace and then exploding halfway through into a barrage of hectic incidents a kidnapping, a theft, a car accident, and an unlikely epiphany by the sea.
The indictment also lists two "overt acts" allegedly committed by Mr. Valle that prosecutors are set to argue proved steps were taken to carry out the kidnapping plots.
The law stipulates that anyone convicted of kidnapping, illegally detaining, or jailing people by force or under false pretences face a prison sentence of no less than seven years.
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When Mr Olmert decided to launch a massive retaliation for a cross-border kidnapping by Hizbullah of two Israeli soldiers, he enjoyed wide support in parliament and in the country.
Vigilante groups say they are fighting against violence, kidnapping and extortion by criminal gangs, but they have in turn been accused of breaking the law and abusing the rights of those they detain.
Lawrence Whitehouse, whose wife Margaret was killed when they were both taken hostage in Yemen in 1998 in a kidhapping organised by Hamza, said he always thought he "ought to be tried for the part in organising our kidnapping" as he believes there is "little doubt that he was a force" behind it.
BBC: News - Today - Frank Gardner: Queen 'was upset' Hamza could not be arrested
Asked to comment on the case by the BBC's Ukrainian service, Ukrainian interior ministry spokesman Volodymyr Polishchuk said "there was no crime, kidnapping or any unlawful actions involved".
Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2009, have told Radio 5 live that they were disappointed in the way the government handled their kidnapping.
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