Police say Haitian ring kidnapped Dominican Republic teen

Santo Domingo.- The National Police on Monday said Haitians are the ringleaders and key members of the ring of kidnappers who held captive Eddy Junior Luna, 15, during 22 days, abducted by three unidentified people on May 31, while in the presence of other youngsters in front of his home, hours after he arrived in the country from the United States.

On Sunday night a police anti-kidnapping squad rescued the teen, held for three weeks in a squalid room in a house under construction, in La Caleta, Boca Chica, where he was found under a bed with his feet and hands tied.

"He was dehydrated and very nervous," said police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete.

He said the group that kidnapped the teenager has been linked to other kidnappings and other crimes, and in this occasion negotiated the ransom through calls from Haiti, according to taped phone conversations records which police investigate.

The official said the ring demanded a US$250,000 ransom, but then agreed to US$185,000 with Luna’s family.

Mateo said the negotiations were carried out unbeknownst to police and that the kidnappers withdrew their demand without any explanation.

After identifying seven of the abductors as Haitian and three others of Haitian descent, the authorities fear that they’re likely part the gangs of kidnappers that roam Haiti and have taken root in the country. More than 30 relevant kidnappings occur per month in Haiti, according to the Associated Press.

"Children going to school, foreign humanitarian aid workers,… no one in Haiti is safe from being kidnapped", said the AP.

Among those arrested in the case thus far figure Yogenis Pérez Frómeta, Eddy Colón Pérez, Luis Enrique Soriano Frómeta, José Manuel Castro and Isabela Pérez Castillo (Chiquita), all of Haitian origin, while other suspects known as Juan Joseph Toussaint and Jacobo Solis are wanted for questioning.