Book Review: Kidnap, Hijack and Extortion: The Response
| Author | Andrew Selth |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486588802100411 |
| Published date | 01 December 1988 |
| Date | 01 December 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK REVIEWS 273
academic writing.
The
book is emotionally confronting but also intellectually
stimulating, and will certainly fulfil its objective of generating discussion. It is
recommended reading for professionals involved with criminology, corrections and
the social welfare field.
Sydney
SUZANNE
HA
TIY
Kidnap, Hijack and Extortion: The Response, Richard Clutterbuck, Macmillan,
London (1987), index, bibliography, 228
pp,
A$25.95 (paper).
As a former Chief Army Instructor at the Royal College of Defence Studies, Senior
Lecturer in Politics at Exeter University, author and long-time adviser on public
security affairs,
Dr
Clutterbuck brings a rare combination of practical experience
and academic research to any examination of political violence and criminal
extortion. In 1978 he wrote abook called Kidnap and Ransom: The Response.
Designed essentially to be a practical guide to officials and businessmen at risk from
kidnappers, the
book
quickly went out of print and is now very difficult to obtain.
In one sense his latest work is an updated and expanded version of
that
earlier
study, but Clutterbuck has this time gone further and provided adetailed overview
of a wider range of threats under which people, businesses and governments might
fall.
Kidnap, Hijack and Extortion is divided into three parts, each designed to be
self-contained for easy reference:
"The
Threat",
"The Response" and "Case
Studies". The first
part
concentrates on kidnapping (for both political and purely
criminal motives), but also looks at extortion by product contamination and bomb
threats. The second considers the questions of risk assessment and security,
contingency planning and crisis management. The third part looks at 60 cases of
kidnapping, hijacking and extortion which form the basis of the analysis in the
earlier parts of the book. It covers a wide range of incidents, from the kidnapping
in 1974 of the sons of Argentine businessman Bunge Born (for whose release a
record $60 million ransom was paid) to the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran
in 1979 and the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985.
Of particular interest to Australian readers, perhaps, is Clutterbuck's description
of the 1981kidnapping in Guatemala of Leon
Don
Richardson, the American-born
head of a company based in Hong Kong and Australia. He also examines the series
of attacks (by bomb and product contamination threats) against Woolworths
between 1979 and 1981. Coles Supermarkets and Qantas have also suffered similar
kinds of criminal extortion, and these too are briefly covered.
From Clutterbuck's treatment of the subject it would appear that kidnapping and
extortion from bomb and other kinds of threats are more common than often
believed. Interestingly, though, relatively few kidnap victims have been killed by
their captors and many have been recovered without the payment of any ransom.
In addition, Clutterbuck argues that by skilful management and prudent
precautionary measures, other kinds of extortion attempts can be successfully
resisted. In particular, he argues for full cooperation with the police in the handling
of any such event. Political extortion (including terrorism) is recognised as a
different matter, but even there Clutterbuck believes that certain measures can be
taken to minimise the risks to potential victims.
Although based on wide research, including interviews with many of the actors
directly involved, Clutterbuck's latest study is not so much an academic treatise as
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