A tiger kidnapping or tiger robbery involves two separate crimes. The first crime usually involves an abduction of a valuable person or thing. Instead of demanding money, the captors demand that a second crime be committed on their behalf. The second crime could be anything from

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

to a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

to the planting of a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

. A person or item held hostage is kept by the captors until their demands are met. The goal of the captors is to have their risky/dirty work performed by another person. The victims of a crime like this are less likely to report to authorities since they just committed a crime themselves.

Origins

The practice began as a twist on a tactic used by the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

, which kidnapped people in order to coerce others into placing car bombs. The term originated from the similar way that criminals observe and "stalk their prey before pouncing". The first recorded crime that can be described as a tiger kidnapping occurred in 1972, but the term was coined in the 1980s and gained more widespread use in the following decade. Since tiger kidnapping is technically two crimes committed in tandem, statistics regarding their occurrence are difficult to compile. Tiger kidnappings have occurred in several jurisdictions, but are more common in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Examples include the Northern Bank robbery and Bank of Ireland robbery. According to ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

'', tiger kidnappings "have become common in Ireland, a close-knit society where criminals can closely track their targets" and "they have typically involved thefts below €1 million." After the 2009 Bank of Ireland robbery, Charlie Flanagan, a member of the Irish Parliament, remarked that “tiger kidnappings are taking place in Ireland... at a rate of almost one per week.”

Countermeasures

Businesses can take several steps to guard against these such as mandating that two or more people must work in tandem in order to open sensitive areas such as bank vaults and cash boxes.

In popular culture

The movies '' Cash on Demand'', '' Nick of Time'', '' Bandits'', '' Firewall'', '' Intermission'' and '' Waist Deep'' dramatize tiger kidnappings. The video game '' Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Justice for All'' features a tiger kidnapping as a plot point in its final case. The 2002 video game ''The Getaway'' plot revolves around the tiger kidnapping of one of the game's protagonists' son. A tiger kidnapping is also carried out in Season 4 of '' Love/Hate''. The series '' Happy Valley'' features a kidnapping that is falsely described as a tiger kidnapping by Sergeant Cawood. '' Vera'' series 11, episode 3 "Tyger, tyger" revolves around a kidnapping which instigates a smuggling crime through the

Port of Tyne The Port of Tyne comprises the commercial docks on and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear in the northeast of England. History There has been a port on the Tyne at least since the Romans used their settlement of Arbeia to supply the g ...

References

{{reflist Robbery Kidnapping

Origins

Countermeasures

In popular culture

See also

References