Independent global risk consultancy, Control Risks, last month released its top ten kidnap destinations for the wealthy.  Latin America is no longer the global “bad boy” and the Panic Room Company is taking note.

Steve Brook, Sales Director of UK-based Panic Room Company, comments, “According to Control Risks, in 2003 65% of kidnappings for ransom took place in Latin America but by 2011 that had dropped to 25%.  Meanwhile Africa and the Middle East leapt from 5% to 35% for the same period, with Nigeria emerging as the country HNWs are most likely to be kidnapped in.  Asia and Pacific also jumped from 19% to 37%.  As these areas get wealthier, individuals are at greater risk, and our Panic Rooms become a must-have.”

With aid staff, construction workers and those in mining amongst the most at-risk, periods of kidnap captivity can range from express abductions where individuals are marched to cash points to withdraw their own ransoms to several hundred days at the mercy of their captors who can demand bounties up to millions of dollars.  The installation of a household Panic Room could completely eliminate this horrific risk.

Steve continues, “We work with security advisors to HNWs across the globe and they are seeing that aggressors specifically want people to be at home so they can hold family members as means of extortion to open tricky high specification safes.  There is also a changing perception as to what is ‘valuable’ – information held on computers and smart phones can be of greater value in the wrong hands than material items.  Humans will always be the weakest point in any security situation and are the most vulnerable.  Our Panic Rooms provide an additional layer of protection to people living in these high risk areas and give peace of mind that they will be hidden away in a sanctuary within their home or office out of reach of kidnappers.”