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796.
Date: September 8, 2005
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Falls Church, Virginia
Details: A man was indicted for plotting to kill Bush, either by shooting him or by use of a suicide bomb. He reportedly discussed with others his plans to kill Bush, assassinate members of Congress, and hijack airliners to fly into U.S. targets. He was reportedly motivated by his hatred of American support for Israel. He reportedly joined al-Qaeda while in Saudi Arabia and was arrested there in June 2003.

797.
Date: October 11, 2005
Target: President Alvaro Uribe
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Details: Police were tipped off by neighbors and found eight grenades and launchers pointed at the presidential palace. Rebels fired similar grenades at Alvaro during his inauguration in 2002, killing 21 people.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

798.
Date: January 18, 2006
Target: Leo Blair (son of Prime Minister Tony Blair)
Location: London, England
Details: Extremist Fathers 4 Justice (F4J) members reportedly discussed snatching Blair's five-year-old son for a publicity stunt. Police intervened at an early stage and it was unclear whether the people involved had the capability to carry it through or how far the scheme had progressed.

799.
Date: April 9, 2006
Target: Mayor Thomas Williams and Police Chief Denise Mercsack and Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti
Location: Ashland, Ohio
Details: Federal agents reportedly broke up a plan to use pipe bombs on the homes of Mayor Williams, Police Chief Denise Mercsack, and Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti. ATF agents reportedly arrested two men outside a gun shop on federal explosives charges. Cicconetti, well known for his unique sentences, was scheduled to sentence one of the man on April 20 on local tax evasion charges. Police searches recovered numerous firearms, smokeless powder, pipe and end caps.

800.
Date: June 3, 2006
Target: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Location: Brampton, Ontario
Details: Police arrested 17 Muslim men after the group acquired three tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be mixed with fuel oil to make a powerful explosive. (One-third that amount was used in the deadly bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.) Court documents accused them of plotting terror bombings in Canada. They were also accused of planning to storm Parliament, take hostages, and behead the prime minister and other leaders if Muslim prisoners were not freed and Canada did not pull its 2,300 troops out of Afghanistan. Another suspect reportedly plotted to take over media outlets, including Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Nine were charged with receiving training from a terrorist group, while four were charged with providing training. Six were charged with intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.

801.
Date: June 5, 2006
Target: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Details: Four men, including three soldiers, were arrested for conspiring to assassinate Erdogan and other senior officials, and illegal possession of explosives. Police raided a house and seized guns, explosives, a time bomb, sticks of dynamite, hand grenades and sketches of the route used by Erdogan to travel to his home.

802.
Date: October 26, 2006
Target: Heiress Fiona Swarovski
Location: Innsbruck, Austria
Details: A Romanian prisoner, serving time in a jail in Innsbruck, tipped police to a plot allegedly hatched by a criminal gang from Eastern Europe to kidnap Swarovski and demand an undisclosed amount of cash. Police quickly increased security around Swarovski and her husband, Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser. The plot was reportedly to enter one of Swarovski's homes and abduct her. Reportedly, the plot was well underway and the kidnappers had taken photographs of the couple's homes in Vienna and Tyrol, including shots of the alarm systems. Paparazzi photographers have relentlessly pursued the couple. In June, a court awarded the couple $50,000 after upholding their invasion of privacy complaint against Germany's Bild newspaper for publishing photos of the pair sunbathing on the island of Capri.

Section 1F: Kidnapping Cases

Kidnapping is a rare crime in the U.S. today. The FBI reports that their agents open only five to six hundred criminal kidnapping investigations each year, and many turn out to not be kidnappings in the conventional sense. However, kidnapping is a rampant problem in other nations. U.S. government reports indicate more than 15,000 kidnappings internationally in 2006. In one year in Columbia alone, there were 2945 kidnappings (1999). That's eight kidnappings every day of the year!

Leftist rebels and guerrillas are the most frequent culprits, usually snagging their victims at roadblocks. A five-year study found 66 percent of hostages were released, 20 percent were rescued, 9 percent were killed or died in captivity, and 5 percent escaped
(Ransom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping,
Ann Hagedorn Auerbach, 1999)
.

Lesson Nine in the al-Qaeda Handbook states,
"All security measures and arrangements in assassination and kidnapping are the same."
A kidnapping is similar to an assassination, in that the target is selected, the targeted person is assessed for vulnerabilities and surveilled, a plan is formulated, an attack site is selected, the area is watched for the target to appear, and then the kidnapper strikes the target, and protectors, if any. Because of the similarity to assassination, we have included a number of incidents in which the goal was to kidnap -- not kill -- the protectee. Unfortunately, in many of the cases noted here, the protectee ended up dead anyway.

803.
Date: February 9, 1960
Target: Adolph Coors III, Coors Brewing Chairman
Location: Colorado
Details: Coors was kidnapped and later murdered near his home. A $500,000 ransom demand was sent to his family, but the kidnapper never followed up on it. Prison escapee Joseph Corbett Jr. was apprehended in Canada, returned to the U.S., and convicted of the crime.

804.
Date: September 4, 1969
Target: U.S. Ambassador Charles Elbrick
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Details: At 2:20 p.m., members of the MR-8 terrorist group kidnapped Elbrick just after leaving his embassy residence. A Volkswagen pulled in front of his Cadillac, forcing it stop. Four gunmen forced their way into Elbrick's car and drove away. Elbrick was hit in the head when he resisted. He was released after 15 prisoners were flown to Mexico.

805.
Date: March 31, 1970
Target: West German Ambassador Carl von Spreti
Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala
Details: Spreti was kidnapped from his home by FAR, a left-wing terrorist group. They murdered him on April 4 after their demands for $700,000 and the release of 22 political prisoners was denied.

806.
Date: June 11, 1970
Target: West German Ambassador E. Halleben
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Details: Halleben was kidnapped from his car by terrorists. His bodyguard was killed and two others were wounded. He was released on June 16.

807.
Date: July 31, 1970
Target: U.S. AID Official Dan Mitrone
Location: Montevideo, Uruguay
Details: Tupamaros gunmen kidnapped Mitrone from his car. His body was found in a stolen car on August 10, shot twice in the head.

808.
Date: October 5, 1970
Target: Trade Commissioner James Cross
Location: Montreal, Canada
Details: Three FLQ gunmen kidnapped Cross from his home. He was released on December 3 after their demands were met, but not until after Labor Minister Pierre LaPorte was kidnapped and murdered.

809.
Date: October 10, 1970
Target: Labor Minister Pierre LaPorte
Location: Quebec, Canada
Details: Four FLQ gunmen kidnapped LaPorte from his home, after their demands for the ransom of Trade Commissioner James Cross were not met. LaPorte's body was found in a car trunk on October 18.

810.
Date: December 7, 1970
Target: Swiss Ambassador Giovanni Bucher
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Details: Bucher was being driven to the embassy when several terrorists blocked the road, killed his bodyguard, and kidnapped him. He was released unharmed on January 16, 1971.

811.
Date: January 8, 1971
Target: British Ambassador Geoffrey Jackson
Location: Montevideo, Uruguay
Details: Jackson was being driven to the embassy when several Tupamaros terrorists blocked the road, got the drop on his three bodyguards, and kidnapped him. He was released on September 8.

812.
Date: May 17, 1971
Target: Israeli Consul Ephraim Elrom
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Details: Four TPLA terrorists raided Elrom's home and kidnapped him. His body was found on May 23, shot three times in the head.

813.
Date: March 21, 1972
Target: Fiat President Oberdan Sallustro
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Details: Sallustro was kidnapped by ERP terrorists and held for ransom. On April 10, during an attempted police rescue, he was shot and killed.

814.
Date: March 1, 1973
Target: U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
Details: Eight Black September terrorists took over the embassy during a party. When President Nixon refused to meet their demands, the terrorists shot and killed Noel, Diplomat George Moore, and Belgian Guy Eid. The terrorists were arrested.

815.
Date: May 4, 1973
Target: U.S. Consul General Terrence Leonhardy
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
Details: Leonhardy was kidnapped and later released by members of the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces.

816.
Date: March 20, 1974
Target: Princess Anne
Location: London, England
Details: As Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace from a London charity event, their Rolls Royce was forced to stop by a Ford Escort. The driver of the Escort, Ian Ball, jumped from his car, firing a .38 pistol. Inspector James Beaton, the Princess' bodyguard, responded by jumping out to shield the Princess and to disarm Ball. However, Beaton's gun jammed and he was shot in the head and chest. The chauffeur, Alex Callender was also shot as he tried to disarm Ball. Journalist Brian McConnell, who was passing by, also tried to intervene and was shot once in the chest. As Ball told the princess of his kidnapping plan and asked her to get out of the car, she replied, "Not bloody likely!" and briefly considered hitting Ball. Eventually, the Princess dived out of the car on the other side. A second passer-by, Ron Russell, punched Ball in the back of the head and led Anne away from the scene. Constable Michael Hills discovered the scene, but was shot by Ball. However he managed to call for backup. A nearby police officer, Peter Edmonds gave chase and finally arrested Ball. Ball later pleaded guilty to attempted murder and attempted kidnap and was detained under the Mental Health Act. He was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, where he remains at print time. Ball planned to ransom the Princess for a sum given in various sources as PS2 million or PS3 million. The incident prompted higher security levels for the Royal Family. To this day, it remains the closest any individual has come to kidnapping a member of the Royal Family. Beaton was awarded the George Cross. Alex Callender, Brian McConnell, Ron Russell, PC Michael Hills, and DC Peter Edmonds were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.

817.
Date: February 26, 1975
Target: U.S. Consul John Egan
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Details: Egan was kidnapped from his home by terrorists. On February 28, his body was found along a road, shot in the head, and wrapped in a flag.

818.
Date: February 2, 1977
Target: Marci Klein (clothing designer Calvin Klein's daughter)
Location: New York, New York
Details: Eleven year old Marci was riding the bus to school. A former babysitter Paule Ransay, approached Marci and said that her father had been taken to the hospital. Marci got off the bus and went with her. Ransay's half-brother and an accomplice kidnapped Marci and made it appear they were also kidnapping Ransay. Klein received a series of phone calls demanding a $100,000 ransom. He contacted the FBI. Klein delivered the money to the Pan Am Building, as instructed. Marci was released about an hour later, ending her ten-hour ordeal. The three kidnappers were arrested, confessed to the crime, were convicted and sent to prison.

819.
Date: September 5, 1977
Target: Businessman Hans Martin Schleyer
Location: Cologne, West Germany
Details: Schleyer was being driven home from his office, accompanied by a driver and three bodyguards in a two-car motorcade. Along the route, several Baader-Meinhoff terrorists launched an ambush. A car swerved in front of Schleyer's car, causing it to stop. His bodyguards jumped out of the follow-up car, but were gunned down. The terrorists also killed the bodyguards in Schleyer's car, and kidnapped him. On October 19, Schleyer's body was found in the trunk of a car. He had been shot in the head three times, and his throat was cut.