But they will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy.
Twenty-five people were arrested in 2009 over the kidnapping of some 16 wealthy Bulgarians for ransom.
Just because you're poor, that doesn't mean you can cross borders and detain people for ransom.
In 2009, 480 people were officially recognised as having been kidnapped for ransom in Pakistan.
If someone disappears and no ransom call comes, should it even be called kidnapping?
It is widely assumed that much of the ransom money is being spent on armaments.
In many hijackings, pirates take the crew and passengers hostage while they demand a ransom.
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In the end, the market should not expect political posturing to hold the currency to ransom.
Some would argue that true glamping means living like royalty while paying a king's ransom.
Is there a risk that this ransom aggravates the problem by rewarding the slave owners?
Yet some believe that Ecuador is holding a priceless piece of the Amazon to ransom.
An attempt to make a ransom drop failed when the kidnappers mistook scoop-hungry reporters for cops.
Cyber-attacks on financial accounts and kidnapping and ransom can be additional concerns for the wealthy.
They kidnap migrant workers, mainly from Central America, and demand ransom from their impoverished families.
Kidnap-for-ransom groups are prevalent in the southern Philippines, according to the BBC's Kate McGeown in Manila.
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Not a king's ransom, but it stops us feeling most of the pain of Clean Sweep.
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But worryingly for shippers, ransom demands may have risen as the number of captured ships falls.
They would collect a ransom as they go, presumably to be paid by Japan.
Many Chechens are arrested and abused for no better reason than to extract a ransom.
Now, you are prepared to pay a king's ransom to keep him from trial.
Paying by cash can involve many middlemen who in the past have been killed delivering ransom.
It is, in effect, a ransom paid by developers to be allowed to put up buildings.
This would, in effect, prevent a small minority of creditors from holding everyone else to ransom.
The pillage will go on so long as potentates can hold bribers to ransom.
But a couple of questions have always bothered me Do people pay the ransom?
Others, like Gertha Pressoir, who is married to a Haitian, get out for a relatively modest ransom.
It is also believed to have kidnapped hundreds of other people, mainly for ransom, over the years.
Instructions came to take the ransom on a night train to Mumbai five days after the abduction.
Saeed was also charged in the Sindh High Court with kidnapping for ransom, and acts of terrorism.
But agreeing a ransom leads to an even bigger headache - getting the money to the pirates.
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