BRIEFS: Crime

Family kidnapped at gunpoint

A family was kidnapped at gunpoint last Thursday and forced to withdraw cash from several ATM machines before being released two hours later.

Police have not released the names of the victims, who were accosted on Calle 74 in San Francisco at 7 p.m.

The victims were a 69-year-old grandmother, her son and her five-year-old grandson.

The three robbers attacked the family as they were getting out of their car, and forced them back inside at gunpoint.

The victims said the robbers threatened to shoot them if they tried to escape.

The robbers withdrew $400 from the family's bank account, and then abandoned them in San Miguelito, fleeing with the man's wallet and the vehicle.

Police said this was an example of an “express kidnapping,” in which the victims are not known to the assailants nor held for a ransom.

Police said there were 144 kidnappings in Panama last year, and 60 in the first five months of this year.