Well, here’s an intriguing kidnapping tale.
The kidnappers of the 37-year-old daughter of a Dutch millionaire who was freed unharmed had demanded a ranson of 300kg of cocaine, authorities said on Thursday.
The kidnappers, who according to the victim appeared to be two Latin Americans and one African, are still at large.
Claudia Melchers was freed by her abductors early on Thursday, Amsterdam’s police commissioner, Willem Woelders, said.
“I do not know why she was freed and she does not know either. I do not know if the ranson or another form of ransom was paid,” said Woelders, admitting there were still a lot of unanswered questions in the investigation.
The police commissioner also said the ransom demand, which was written in English, was in a letter discovered after the kidnapping in Melchers’s apartment, located in an upmarket Amsterdam neighbourhood.
Such a demand certainly would have been an interesting plot twist in Mel Gibson’s Ransom. I can see it now.
The whole world now knows … my son, Sean Mullen, was kidnapped, for ransom, three days ago. This is a recent photograph of him. Sean, if you’re watching, we love you. And this … well, this is what waits for the man that took him. This is your ransom. Three hundred kilograms Columbian in uncut blocks, just like you wanted. But this is as close as you’ll ever get to it. You’ll never snort one line of this cocaine, because no ransom will ever be paid for my son. Not one key, not one gram. Instead, I’m offering this nose candy as a reward on your head. Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter. So congratulations, you’ve just become a three hundred kilograms lottery ticket … except the odds are much, much better. Do you know anyone that wouldn’t turn you in for three hundred kilograms? I don’t think you do. I doubt it. So wherever you go and whatever you do, this blow will be tracking you down for all time. And to ensure that it does, to keep interest alive, I’m running a full-page ad in every major newspaper every Sunday … for as long as it takes. But … and this is your last chance … you return my son, alive, uninjured, I’ll withdraw the bounty. With any luck you can simply disappear. Understand … you will never see this coke. Not one sniff. So you still have a chance to do the right thing. If you don’t, well, then, God be with you, because nobody else on this Earth will be.