Text message saves kidnapped man
By Manuel Rueda, Editorial Director
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A cell phone merchant from the western State of Valle del Cauca liberated himself from kidnappers after using a text message to ask for help.
Alexander Vasquez Escobar was intercepted by armed men in the city of Cali earlier this week and taken to a secret farmhouse in the outskirts of the city.
Escobar wittingly hid a cell phone in his pants without his captors´ knowledge and during bathroom breaks he texted his wife to alert her of his situation.
In his text messages Escobar also sent important information about his location which allowed operatives from the Army´s anti-kidnapping squad to find him on Wednesday, liberating him and seizing four out of his six kidnappers.
Escobar´s kidnappers had planned to ask his family for a large sum of money for his release or hand him over to the FARC guerrillas for an undisclosed but also large sum.
While kidnappings are still an unfortunate part of life in Colombia the number of these crimes has gone down significantly since 2002.
In 2009 Colombian police reported 138 kidnappings across the country, a modest number if compared to the 2,122 kidnappings that were reported by local authorities in 2003.
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