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BOGOTA - A kidnapped Colombian dog held for $350,000 ($NZ470,873) ransom was recovered on Friday after his abductors dropped him off at a veterinarian's office, saying he needed a bath.
When no one came to pick up the German shepherd after it was washed, the office called police who said they identified the canine as Aldo de Fescol, snatched last month from his home in a rich Bogota neighborhood while his owners were away.
No ransom was paid, police said.
Aldo was in healthy condition but two of his kidnappers were wounded in a Tuesday shootout with police who ambushed them at a fake meeting staged to pay the extortion money.
The abductors tried to pressure the family by sending a proof of life video with a note saying, "This is how your dog cries at night."
Kidnapping for ransom is big business in this Andean country, where drug-running leftist rebels have been fighting the government for four decades. More than 3000 Colombians are currently held captive, most by the guerrillas.
- REUTERS
