What is more precious than a child? and when was the last time one was held for ransom? I can recall two ransom attempts; one in Australia when a young girl had a bomb (fake, I think, but real enough at the time) attached to her neck ... and was it a Guinness heir whose ear was sent to his family?
However ... just a reminder ...
**Snip
Police say one reading of Madeleine McCann's disappearance in Portugal in 2007 is that it has "all the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24528530 /////// /////// /////// /////// /////// ///////
Planned abduction may not even concern a particular child. It may be any child. The apartment in Luz may have been staked out. Who can know what goes through the minds of these people. But there can be no doubt that there are those who for their own reasons want a particular child for a particular reason not necessarily to be abused, which may be a valid reason to continue hoping that Madeleine is alive and well.
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**Snip
A HORRIFYING picture of the full scale of child abduction by strangers in Britain is revealed in a new shock report.
Last year 273 kids were targeted by predators they did not know who tried to — or did — snatch them.
Abductions by strangers made up nearly half of all the 592 reported snatches involving 675 children in the UK in 2011/12.
http://theukdatabase.com/uk-child-abusers-named-and-shamed/facts-and-stats-on-child-abuse/child-abduction-the-stats/273-uk-kids-abducted-in-a-year/