全球綁架產業鏈:年產值竟超10億英鎊

The hostage industry has become a popular one in the 21st century, worth at least ￡1 billion (＄15.7 billion) a year, revealed an investigation promoted by Anthony Gery, the Reuters journalist。

　　路透社記者安東尼·格雷做了一項調查，表明綁架人質已經形成一個產業，年產值超過10億英鎊(15.7億美元)。

In August, three Russian airmen were kidnapped in Darfur. In July, four journalists were seized in Mexico. In June, a Russian businessman's grand-daughter was taken hostage. In May, it was Chinese technicians in Nigeria; in April, eight Red Cross workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo; in March, a British film-maker in Pakistan; in February, four Pakistani employees of a US aid agency; and in January, a US contractor in Iraq。

(今年全球出現了多起綁架事件。) 8月份，3名俄羅斯飛行員在蘇丹達爾富爾地區被綁架；7月份，4名記者在墨西哥被綁架；6月份，1名俄羅斯商人的孫女被綁架，成爲人質。5月份，中國技術人員在尼日利亞被綁架；4月份，8名紅十字會工作人員在剛果民主共和國被綁架；3月份，1名英國電影製作人在巴基斯坦被綁架；2月份，美國援助機構的4名巴基斯坦僱員被綁架；1月份，1名美國承建商在伊拉克被綁架。

From Mexico City to Mogadishu, from Mosul to Manila, the numbers of aid workers, Western staff, tourists and locals taken hostage is rising. In Mexico, more than 7,000 were held in 2008 alone, in Nigeria at least 1,000 were taken last year, and in Somalia, foreigners are being kidnapped at a rate of 106 a month. All told, at least 12,000 people are now taken hostage each year, and this weekend more than 2,000 – at least 400 of whom are foreigners – are enduring yet another day in a makeshift "prison", not knowing, from hour to hour, if they will be freed or killed。

從墨西哥城到(索馬里首都)摩加迪沙，從(伊拉克北部城市)摩蘇爾到(菲律賓首都)馬尼拉，被綁架的人數不斷增長。被綁架的人員包括救援人員、西方公司員工、遊客和當地居民。僅在2008年，在墨西哥就有超過7000人被綁架。去年，在尼日利亞至少有1000人遭遇綁架事件。而在索馬里，平均每個月被綁架的外國人質數量達到106人。整個來說，每年被綁架的總人數至少達到12000人。本週就有超過2000名人質，其中至少400名外國人在臨時搭建的“監獄”內煎熬。他們不知道自己是將被釋放還是被殺。

The ransom profits are enormous and growing. Police in Nigeria estimate that ransoms paid there between 2006 and 2008 exceeded $100 million. Al-Qaeda in West Africa alone makes millions taking hostages。

從綁架事件中得到的贖金金額龐大，並且還在不斷增長。尼日利亞警方預測，2006年至2008年期間當地贖金的總額超過1億美元。位於西非的基地組織每年依靠綁架人質可以獲得數百萬美元資金。

And so has grown up a whole industry to counteract the criminals: firms offering kidnap and ransom insurance, highly paid negotiators, lawyers, and security personnel。

綁架事件的商業化催生了一個對抗犯罪分子的行業。這個行業中成員不僅包括提供綁架勒索保險的公司，也包括收取高額費用的談判人員、律師和保安人員。

Its "employees" range from the teenage hoodlums who roam Sudan or West Africa ready to kidnap the child of a businessman or an American oil worker and sell them to more experienced hostage gangs, to statisticians in London offices keeping check on the going rate for the safe return of hostage, so the actuarial calculations can maintain a healthy bottom line. The business's raw material is unprotected people, what has been called "walking gold" – someone in the wrong place at the wrong time who can be taken and converted into serious money。

綁架人質行業中的僱員不僅包括十幾歲的流氓，也包括位於倫敦辦公室的統計人員。前者徘徊在蘇丹或西非，時刻準備綁架商人的子女或者美國石油工人，然後將他們賣給經驗更爲豐富的綁架團伙。而後者負責跟蹤人質安全返回所需贖金的變動情況，從而精確計算最低贖金的數額。這個行業的原材料就是未受保護的人。這些人被稱爲“行走中的黃金”。他們在一個錯誤的時間出現在了一個錯誤的地點，他們可能會被綁架，還被用來換取一大筆錢。

The treatment of hostages varies enormously. Mexican hostages are not treated well, and are liable to lose a hand if the kidnappers think the ransom payers need geeing up. If that doesn't work, the hostage is likely to die. In Nigeria, by contrast, hostages are rarely harmed。

不同綁匪對待人質的態度迥異。墨西哥人質受到的待遇較差。如果犯罪分子認爲贖金支付者需要加快行動，就會砍掉人質的一隻手。如果這個方法不起作用，人質將被殺死。相比而言，在尼日利亞被綁架的人質很少受到傷害。