tiger kidnapping

tiger kidnapping
 n.— «Police intelligence reports and underworld crime gangs share the same use of terminology—a tiger kidnapping is what they both call a crime where a hostage is held to force the victim to take part in a robbery.…The origins of the tiger kidnapping spread back well over two decades. The term was first used in London for a particular type of crime against illegal immigrants, usually from the Middle East. When these immigrants reached London they were kidnapped by armed gangs who told their families back home that their relatives would be killed unless large ransoms were paid.» —“Anatomy of a bank robbery” by Jonathan McCambridge Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland) Jan. 12, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

Familiar Strangers (episode #1594)

If you take up texting and social media late in life, there’s a lot to learn! A twenty-something wants advice getting her dad up to speed on memes, Instagram, and animated images. Plus, when you’re on a long road trip, what do you call...

Pushing the Envelope (episode #1591)

Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a cold snap...

Recent posts