GERMANY: Group of seniors accused of kidnap, torture in Germany

. TORONTO, Ontario, Canada / DigitalJournal.com / June 24, 2009 By Stephanie Dearing North Americans are used to hearing stories about people who target unsuspecting and all-too-gullible seniors, who subsequently lose their money to the schemers. But in Germany, it took 40 heavily armed policemen from Germany's counter-terrorism unit to free 56 year old James Amburn on June 20. The investment advisor said he was kidnapped when he was unlocking his door, just about to enter his home. He said he was assualted from behind, bound with tape and then put into the truck of a car. He was driven to what is said to be the vacation home of one or two of his accused kidnappers near the Austrian border. Amburn claims he was kept naked and tied in the basement except for occasions when he was allowed into a walled garden to smoke. On one of those occasions he attempted to escape, fleeing the garden in only his underwear, but Amburn said his captors yelled to neighbours to stop him, shouting that he was a burglar. The neighbours tackled him, and Amburn was again taken to the basement, where he said he suffered beatings. The small group of seniors accused of the kidnapping is said to consist of two married couples (one couple is in their 70s) and possibly one other man, who may or may not be American. Apparently the seniors were angry with Amburn because they had given him 2.4 million Euros to invest in land in Florida, which was all lost. Amburn said that the loss was due to the global economic crisis. Amburn caught his lucky break when he agreed to make arrangements to repay the seniors. He prepared documents that were faxed to a bank in Switzerland. In those documents, he had put in a message, "call police." Someone at the bank caught the message and Amburn was rescued. Police said Amburn suffered two broken ribs as well as bruises and lacerations. The accused pensioners were arrested and held on charges of kidnapping. There is a "grey" crime wave occurring in Germany, where it is called "silver crime" because of its increasing prevalence. In 2005, three seniors were convicted of having robbed 14 banks in Germany, armed only with carrots in their pockets. Before they were arrested, they managed to steal 1.3 million Euros. The problem is not restricted to Germany. Seniors World Chronicle reports that crime committed by seniors is on the rise in Japan as well. The article cites a White Paper on Crime (2007) as saying that "the number of elderly repeat offenders has steadily increased over the years, reaching 20.3 per cent of all repeat offenders in 2005. Theft and fraud were the most common offences, together accounting for over 60 per cent of all repeat offences involving seniors."[rc] Copyright © 1998-2009 digitaljournal.com