BUENOS AIRES, June 20 (UPI) -- Official figures Sunday suggested kidnappings in Argentina have increased by more than five times in the last two years.
According to Buenos Aires' ministry for security there were 46 reported cases in the country in 2001 and 306 in 2003, the BBC reported. In cases reported last year, kidnappers netted $1.15 million.
Argentina's economy collapsed when the country defaulted on almost $88 billion of debt in 2002 in the midst of its worst-ever economic crisis.
The primary motive to get involved in kidnapping is because it "makes more money, more quickly," investigators said.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Buenos Aires last May to demand government action after a wave of kidnappings and murders.
Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner said many of the kidnappings carried out in and around Buenos Aires were masterminded by corrupt police officers, several of whom have been arrested.
