A Haitian gang that kidnapped a group of American and Canadian missionaries is asking for $17 million - or $1 million each - to release them, according to a top Haitian official.
Justice Minister Liszt Quitel told Reuters that talks were under way with kidnappers to seek the release of the missionaries abducted over the weekend outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, by a gang called 400 Mawozo.
Several calls between the kidnappers and the missionary group have taken place since their disappearance, the minister told CNN. The U.S. government is "relentlessly focused" on the kidnapping and in constant communication with Haitian police and the missionaries' church, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists in Quito, where he met with that country's president and foreign minister.
The FBI said on Monday it is part of a U.S. government effort to get the Americans involved to safety.Five priests and two nuns, including two French citizens, were abducted in April in Croix-des-Bouquets and were released later that month.
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