Abduction scares put focus on security

New Zealand's rich and famous are being urged to review their security after a third kidnap attempt in three months.

Security experts say high-profile people should have a threat assessment carried out, as well as considering learning hand-to-hand combat or even getting a bodyguard.

The comments come as three men face charges over allegedly planning to kidnap a man believed to be from a prominent Wellington family.

Heavily armed police foiled the alleged plot on Tuesday after being led to a hidden underground bunker in the Rimutaka Ranges, near Wellington, where they believe the victim was to be held.

These arrests and two earlier ransom kidnapping cases have raised the issue of security for prominent people.

There are whispers that some have had "panic rooms" installed, like the concrete-and-steel encased room actor Jodie Foster's character hides in during the film Panic Room.

In Britain, security companies said the movie, the September 11 attacks and rise in violent crime and burglaries had fuelled a demand for panic rooms by affluent people.

In an article last month, The Observer said the indoor high-tech security rooms were effectively reinforced, bulletproof, airtight steel boxes, containing an emergency button that alerts police.

They are capable of withstanding biological, chemical or armed attack.

Celebrities who have apparently invested in one include Madonna and Sir Paul McCartney.

In New Zealand, people who mix in the right circles say security for many rich people consists of little more than electric gates and a corporate cab account to get home.

One possible target - who spoke to the Herald on the condition he was not named - talked of his fear of such a crime.

"You would be mad not to be a bit worried.

"The problem is, these people are dumb; it could be the bloke who you change a tyre with that comes back to grab you. It is pretty random."

The man has improved security at home but says privacy was an important factor.

"A reporter once published where I lived against my wishes. I went in there, grabbed the [person] and told him that if anything happened to me or my family then he was a marked man.

"He was [very scared]. He later rang to apologise saying he couldn't sleep because of the anger he saw in me ... My family is paramount."

Bodyguards are rarely used in New Zealand, but former SAS soldier Barrie Rice, who has since worked as a bodyguard in Cambodia, Brunei, Namibia and the United States, believes kidnappings will get worse in New Zealand as copycats catch on and that a rise in his line of work will follow.

But security consultant Trevor Morley, while confirming that he has had people worried about their safety come to him for "low-key" advice, says this year's three kidnap attempts are an aberration and people should not obsess over their safety.

"That is not to say that people who have a high profile or one foisted on them by the Rich List and the media should not take precautions."

Mr Morley said those precautions would vary depending on circumstance: "You may live on a tenth floor penthouse and need different security to someone who lives down a long driveway on a farm."

Both Mr Morley and Mr Rice agree that possible targets should take precautions no matter what.

"Overseas, people have kidnapping insurance," Mr Rice said.

"Their kids get taken, a finger comes back in the post and the money gets there real quick. I have not foiled a kidnapping, but my procedures have certainly deterred them."

He advises rich people to have a threat assessment of their home or workplace.

Mr Rice says this can then result in some subtle changes - "without turning their place into a castle" - and if necessary, teach people some hand-to-hand combat.

Bodyguards cannot carry firearms in New Zealand, but Mr Rice says they may carry batons, and he could turn a pen into a "pretty useful" weapon if he had to.

This week's case follows the gunpoint kidnapping in April of Kahu Durie, the 8-month-old daughter of prominent Wellington lawyer Donna Hall and High Court Justice Eddie Durie.

The kidnapper, Terence Ward Traynor, wanted a $3 million ransom. He was jailed for 11 years.

Also in April, two Chinese men held a 6-year-old Auckland boy hostage for a $400,000 ransom after snatching him at knifepoint from his home.

They were jailed for up to 16 years under home invasion sentencing provisions.

Official records show there were 161 kidnappings and abductions last year, but a police spokesman said those figures included domestic and sexual crimes.