However, Matlabi did say he attributes the increasing in kidnappings to “the collapse of the security situation and the government’s inability to hold criminals accountable and to track them down. According to our information, abduction cases are on the rise and are mostly motivated by money.”
According to some reports, more than 700 people were kidnapped in Baghdad during the first nine months of 2016. These figures are the cases that were officially reported to the security forces, the sources said, while there are dozens and maybe hundreds of cases that are not reported out of fear for the lives of the kidnapped.
In the chaos of 2003, when a US-led coalition invaded Iraq, and at the height of the civil war in 2006 and 2007, kidnappings climbed and gangs proliferated. This led to the birth of the most prominent abduction groups and organized crime.
Mohammed al-Rubaie, deputy head of the Security Committee of the Baghdad Provincial Council, said in a press statement Jan. 1 that influential political or armed groups are behind the kidnappings to secure funds through ransoms.
With the proliferation of weapons and vehicles owned by influential people in political parties and armed groups — who aren't searched when they pass through checkpoints — the kidnappings are expected to rise.
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