Kurdistan security arrests 5 for kidnapping attempt in Sulaimani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Kurdish Asayish (security) in the province of Sulaimani on Wednesday announced their arrest of five members of a criminal group who attempted to kidnap an unidentified local resident in the town of Qaladze.

“The group had planned to kidnap a person traveling to work and tried to do so,” the spokesperson of Raparin security told reporters during a live broadcast. 

He said that the group had been monitoring the would-be victim for a week, but did not specify whether the plan was to demand ransom after the kidnapping or if there was some other suspected motivation to commit the crime.

The gender of the person targeted was also not specified, nor if the group was suspected of successfully carrying out previous kidnappings.

The spokesperson explained that four of those arrested are from Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat) and the fifth is from Qaladze.

“The group had tools used in kidnappings in their possession, including tasers and motorbikes,” he said, adding that three additional members of the group had escaped and are being pursued by law enforcement. 

Editing by John J. Catherine