- Pronouns
- He/Him, They/Them
INTERNATIONAL GAZETTE
Tolima's foreign ministry today issued a warning to all foreign nationals visiting the country about an increased danger of kidnapping by drug cartels. One of Eras's premier vacation spots has been involved in an ongoing war against criminal cartels who run much of the drug smuggling in the region and are becoming more and more violent in an attempt to maintain revenue streams following a series of successful police actions.There have been 41 cases of kidnapping in the last 6 months with hundreds more incidents of 'express kidnappings' where a victim is abducted at gun or knife point and forced to go to an ATM to withdraw money from their account, before being released. It is thought that the number of express kidnappings in the last year was over 10,000 but a lack of reporting is stymieing attempts to combat the surge in crime.
Mostly native Tolimans have been targeted by the gangs but international attention has been caught following the express kidnapping of Johnny Cool, one of the stars of the Andrenne television show Happy Days. Mr Cool was unharmed but was taken to multiple ATMs and was relieved of over $60,000 NSD. Similar express kidnappings have occured to Toliman celebrities including the masked luchador El Hijo Del Rey, who also a title belt stolen. The belt was later recovered by police undamaged.
During a statement before Parliament, Foreign Minister Julio Abreu said that new measures to protect both Tolimans and foreign nationals were being brought in, with an expansion of the drone program that identified many cartel farms and bases now in use to observe suspicious activity. In response to a question from the opposition Foreign Affairs spokesperson Isabella Luiz, Mr Abreu also announced that armed police would now be deployed to express kidnapping hotspots like the barrios of Madrazo.