Florida couple kidnapped and being held for ransom in Haiti, says family

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A Florida couple have been kidnapped in Haiti and are now being held for ransom, according to their family.

Couple kidnapped in Haiti

Jean Dickens Toussaint and Abigail Toussaint were reportedly abducted on a bus on March 18 while visiting the country to see relatives and attend a community festival.

The US state department put out a travel advisory for Americans visiting Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, and civil unrest”. Officials said they are “aware of reports of two US citizens missing in Haiti”.

“The US department of state and our embassies and consulates abroad have no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas,” the federal agency said.

Ransom

The Toussaints’ kidnappers demanded $6,000 for the couple’s release, a relative told ABC Miami, but now they increased the ransom to $200,000 each after the money was paid. “We don’t have that type of money,” Jean Dickens Toussaint’s sister, Nikese Toussaint, said.

“We were very worried when they said they were going, we told them not to go but they wanted to go,” she added.

A family friend who met the couple at the airport to escort them was also kidnapped, a niece of the couple told ABC Miami.

“They stopped the bus at a stop and they asked for the Americans on the bus and their escorts to come off the bus and then they took them,” she said.

Kidnappings for ransom have catapulted in Haiti, with more than 1,200 reported in 2022, double that of those reported the previous year.