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Florida couple, both 33, visiting Haiti are kidnapped by a local gang who demand $200,000 for their safe return as their family says they warned them not to travel to the country
Abigail and Jean-Dickens Toussaint, both 33, were taken by a Haitian gang while on a bus in Port-au-Prince on March 18
The couple flew from Florida to visit a sick relative despite family warning them to not travel to the country overrun with political unrest and gangs
The gang requested the family pay them $6,000 for the couple's safe return before they increased the amount to $200,000
The day the couple went missing, they sent a message to their family telling them they landed safely around 8.55am local time, according to ABC7. They never sent another update.
The couple's kidnappers initially asked the family for $6,000 for their return before increasing the amount to $200,000.
'We don't have that type of money,' Christie Desormes, their niece, told WPLG.
It's unclear how the kidnappers communicated with the family.
In 2021, the kidnapping of 17 missionaries in Haiti made national headlines. The group with 12 adults and five minors traveled to the country with the Ohio-based agency Christian Aid Ministries (CAM).
They were kidnapped in October 2021 and were held hostage until their brave escape two months later in December.