Snatched

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The police of Divisão Anti Sequestro (Brazil's elite anti kidnapping squad, otherwise known as DAS) are preparing for a mission. They load up their standard government-issue revolvers before strapping on the extras – a Glock, boxes of bullets, a machinegun and a blade sharp enough to slice a throat in one stroke.

"We are outgunned – always," officer Roberto Ferreira tells me. A veteran of the Sao Paulo police department, Roberto’s spent five years at DAS hunting kidnappers in this city of 18 million people, where hundreds get kidnapped every year.

Roberto’s office is in an eight-storey building filled with 120 police officers – all working on kidnapping cases. Some tap phone calls, others patrol the streets, some go undercover into the shantytown favelas looking for victims. Others work in the intelligence division, where Ferreira heads up the unit that puts all the pieces together.

Ferreira’s beeper and mobiles sit on his desk, silent as he describes his current case – a 13-year-old schoolgirl named Monica, snatched as she left the dentist.

Check out hardcore footage as RALPH joins Brazil’s battle against the kidnapping gangs terrorising innocent punters.

What is your favourite hostage movie? Leave your comment below.

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