American couple being held hostage in Haiti; kidnappers improve ransom demand

A Florida couple visiting Port-au-Prince, Haiti are being held at ransom after being kidnapped, in line with relations.

Jean Dickens Toussaint and Abigail Toussaint, each 33-years-old, have been reportedly kidnapped on a bus on March 18 whereas on a go to to see ailing family and attend a neighborhood pageant. 

Jean-Dickens Toussaint and Abigail Toussaint have been reportedly kidnapped on a bus on March 18 whereas visiting ailing family. (Joanne through Twitter)

The U.S. citizen’s abductors allegedly demanded $6,000 for the couple’s launch, relations advised ABC Miami. After relations paid the ransom, the abductors upped the ransom to $200,000 every, relations mentioned.

“We don’t have that kind of cash,” Jean Dickens Toussaint’s sister, Nikese Toussaint, advised ABC Miami.

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A household pal who met the couple on the airport to escort them was additionally kidnaped, a niece of the couple advised ABC Miami.

“They stopped the bus at a cease, they usually requested for the Americans on the bus and their escorts to come back off the bus, after which they took them,” she mentioned.

The United Nations has warned that Haitian gang violence seems more likely to envelop the nation regardless of better-funded and extra current police forces. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The U.S State Department mentioned that they’re conscious of stories of American residents lacking in Haiti and shared that the division will work with native authorities to seek for the lacking couple.

“We are conscious of stories of two U.S. residents lacking in Haiti,” the State Department spokesperson mentioned in a press release to Fox News Digital. “When a U.S. citizen is lacking, we work intently with native authorities as they perform their search efforts, and we share data with households nonetheless we are able to.”

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The US state division advises Americans to not journey to Haiti “resulting from kidnappings, crime, and civil unrest”

Haiti is as soon as once more battling a spike in gang-related kidnappings that had diminished after President Jovenel Moïse was fatally shot at his personal residence on July 7, and following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck southwest Haiti in August and killed greater than 2,200 folks.

People protest for the discharge of kidnapped missionaries close to the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries headquarters in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.  (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

Gangs have grown in power and have demanded ransoms starting from a few hundred {dollars} to greater than $1 million, in line with authorities.

The safety scenario has devolved additional in current months with routine gun fights between law enforcement officials and the gangs. Bloody turf battles have left a whole bunch useless and hundreds displaced.

Seventeen missionaries from the United States and Canada have been taken hostage and held for ransom in 2021 whereas on a visit to Haiti organized by the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. The group mentioned ransom cash was paid for the discharge of the captives, however a dozen had escaped on their very own.

Haiti’s nationwide police didn’t instantly reply to Fox News’ Digital’s request for remark.

Reuters contributed to this report.