Kidnappers Threaten To Attack Family

The kidnappers who abducted two European tourists at gunpoint earlier this week have threatened to attack an American family if their demands were not met, a priest said Friday.

The Rev. Eduardo Bolanos, a Roman Catholic priest from the northern town of Pital de San Carlos, told Radio Monumental that one of the kidnappers had called him Thursday to make the threat.

In response, the U.S. Embassy issued a bulletin urging Americans in Costa Rica to take precautions.

Germany, Nicaragua, Switzerland and the United States have offered to help Costa Rica find Regula Susana Siegfried of Switzerland and Nicola Fleutchaus of Germany, who were kidnapped Tuesday near the Nicaraguan border.

The kidnappers have demanded a $1 million ransom and freedom for a group imprisoned for the 1993 seizure of Costa Rica’s supreme court building.