Do You Know What K&R Insurance Is?

[L84Cabo]

It stands for Kidnapping and Ransom Insurance.

Pretty interesting article on this topic that doesn't get talked about much.

The business of kidnapping: inside the secret world of hostage negotiation

In 1982, a British insurance broker named Doug Milne set out in search of new markets. His speciality was kidnapping and ransom insurance, known in the industry as K&R. Milne enrolled in a Spanish-language course in London, and a month later, with rudimentary skills and only one or two solid contacts on the ground, he boarded a flight to Bogotá. On his first day in the Colombian capital, Milne was walking to a meeting with a potential client when, he recalled, "a guy pulled up alongside and this chap who was walking in front of me, his head just exploded". It was a drive-by assassination.

Milne cancelled the meeting and spent the afternoon in a bar near Bogotá's entertainment district. "I missed my meeting and I think I left there about 11pm after having drunk a couple of flagons of Tres Esquinas rum," Milne told me. He was, of course, horrified. But he also realised that he'd come to the right place. While he knew nothing about the victim or the motive, the murder drove home to him the extent to which Colombian society was at the mercy of criminals and guerillas. His clients needed what he had to offer.

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[cigars]

That was very interesting. Luckily there are more importanter people than I who have to worry about such things.

 

[L84Cabo]

That was very interesting. Luckily there are more importanter people than I who have to worry about such things.

Except there were people in this article who were pretty ordinary. Certainly not rich or famous and they were still kidnapped.

It can very much be a crime of opportunity. Like, "let's grab that western dude and see if we can get any money for him. If not, we can always kill him."

Now if you're not going into backwater shhhh...err...crap-hole countries, you're probably not at risk. But if you do happen to wander into the Third World, it's a good reminder to always keep your wits about you.

 

[cigars]

Except there were people in this article who were pretty ordinary. Certainly not rich or famous and they were still kidnapped.

It can very much be a crime of opportunity. Like, "let's grab that western dude and see if we can get any money for him. If not, we can always kill him."

Now if you're not going into backwater shhhh...err...crap-hole countries, you're probably not at risk. But if you do happen to wander into the Third World, it's a good reminder to always keep your wits about you.

Japan and Canada is about as third world as I get. Well then there's Baltimore...

 

[Flymph]

Japan and Canada is about as third world as I get. Well then there's Baltimore...

Yeah, Kansas is as close to 3rd world as I'll go.
Maybe Mexico if it wasn't such a warzone now.

I consider Portland more 3rd world than Tokyo... just saying.

PS; also ironically happy that I'm not of wnough significance to be worth kidnapping. Organs ain't really even worth harvesting the way I used to drink!