Kidnappers snatch Peruvian transsexual

MOSCOW, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A former police officer and a friend must have been surprised to find the woman they snatched on a Moscow street turned out to be a pre-operative transsexual.

The 30-year-old Peruvian, Ronald Victor Garcia Barbosa, was hailing a taxi after attending a transvestite party in a nearby nightclub when the incident occurred, the Moscow Times reported Friday. Police said Barbosa looked like a woman, with silicone beast implants and feminine attire.

Police said they suspect that the two had been kidnapping and extorting money from prostitutes and pimps in Moscow for several weeks before Tuesday's incident.

A passer-by saw and reported the abduction to police, who arrested the suspected kidnappers Wednesday, the newspaper said. One of the suspects has a former police officer in Kursk.

Police said Barbosa told them the kidnappers demanded $10,000 and beat him when he refused to pay. He escaped by leaping out of the moving vehicle.