It is widely assumed that much of the ransom money is being spent on armaments.
Mr Sarkozy and others deny that the EU or France paid any ransom money for the medics' release.
Some people could not raise ransom money and saved themselves by going to work for La Familia, he said.
Why don't banks offer mortgages that automatically refinance, without forcing you to pay ransom money to title insurers and appraisers?
Desperate families will give up everything to find the ransom money that will win the release of a father, a brother.
Oil workers and other foreign nationals are often targeted because companies pay high ransom money to secure their employees' release, correspondents say.
The BBC's Joseph Odhiambo in Mombasa says that on at least two prior occasions the ransom money was delivered to the hijacked vessels via air-drops.
Much of their ransom money from previous hijackings has been used to buy new boats and weapons as well as develop a network across the Horn of Africa, he adds.
Most kidnappers are criminal gangs looking for ransom money.
That is terrible for Nigeria, less so for Europe and North America: AQIM often targets foreign aid workers and contractors (usually to raise ransom money), but it has shown little interest in targets outside north-west Africa.
The Chechen kidnappers had allegedly been holding the men's bodies to ransom, demanding money and immunity from prosecution before they would release the remains.
Jealously, Patty Ann holds onto the Taylors' deed as ransom for more money, even though the Taylors paid for the house and gave her husband a big fee besides.
The e-mail encouraged users to download a Monster Job Seeker Tool, which was in fact a program that encrypted files in their computer and left a ransom note demanding money for their decryption.
For most of this time, the country has been at war and piracy has now become an attractive way of making money, with ransom payments reaching tens of millions of dollars.
Their father borrowed money all over town to ransom his sons.
But agreeing a ransom leads to an even bigger headache - getting the money to the pirates.
The boat with 16 fishermen aboard was seized for ransom two weeks ago, but was let go without money exchanging hands.
In previous cases, the government has paid money to kidnappers, without calling it a ransom, in the guise of expenses for the board and lodging of the hostages.
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When the ransom has been paid, the pirates are left to count the money and are allowed to leave the vessel freely.
At their trial, the court heard that the soldiers had known the money belonged to the Farc and that it had come from drug trafficking, kidnap ransom and extortion.
The kidnappings are mainly money-based, taking people for whom the kidnappers believe they can get a ransom -- contractors, foreign nationals and wealthy locals -- according to U.S. military officials.
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