MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Outrage in Argentina with spate of kidnapping.

Argentine police were holding Tuesday night at least seven suspects they captured in a raid after 22-year-old kidnap victim Pablo Belluscio was returned to his family.

Described as one of the cruelest cases of the recent kidnapping spate in Argentina, the college student was released following payment of an undisclosed ransom but with two finger joints less, the gruesome kidnappers' "message of life" to the Belluscio family during the month and a half long abduction.

Police said they seized weapons and bulletproof jackets but did not indicate if any of the ransom money was recovered in the operation in a northern suburb of Buenos Aires. Belluscio was said to be shocked but in good condition, as his abductors were considerate enough to give him tetanus shots after they cut off first one and then a second joint from his right-hand index finger and sent them to his parents.

The Chemistry student was abducted September 22 by a gang of armed men who shot and wounded two police officers who tried to impede the abduction.

Public outrage over the case saw thousands of people take to the streets last Friday banging pots and pans to demand a crackdown on the wave of kidnapping that targets relatives of sports stars, celebrities or even just relatively well-to-do business executives or middle class families.

Last week, the Argentine press reported that more than a kidnap a day has become a fact of life for some eight million people living in the greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area The capital registered 207 kidnap for ransom cases during the first six months of 2003, equivalent to 95% of all the kidnappings in the entire country and a sizeable increase over 2002, with 165 abductions in the same six-month period.

Police say the true figures will never be known since many of the victims and their families are terrified that the criminals will carry out their threats to come back if the crime is reported.

Member of the President Kirchner administration said they "understood" people's indignation and ordered yet another decapitation of the Buenos Aires Province police force considered the most corrupt and criminally organized of the country.

The controversy reached the high echelons of power when Minister of Justice Gustavo Beliz claimed that the situation had grown out of all proportions because the "corrupt cops" worked under the umbrella of "crooked politicians".

Mr. Beliz remarks forced a summit between former president and political boss of the province of Buenos Aires Eduardo Duhalde and president Nestor Kirchner, who actually managed to reach Casa Rosada (Government House) with the electoral support from Mr. Duhalde.

Mr. Kirchner and Mr. Duhalde have since appeared in several public events to show that there is no rift between the president and his mentor. Kidnapping has become a thriving industry in Argentina following a five-year recession and political turmoil that led to economic meltdown pushing millions of Argentines into poverty and frustration.