Although the perpetrators aborted the attempt this time, the growing number of successful tiger kidnappings in Ireland and Northern Ireland has prompted a banking association to call on its members to take more aggressive steps to combat the problem.

In the latest incident, a group of men attempted to abduct a woman from her home after her husband left for work. The plan apparently was to hold the woman hostage while the assailants contacted her husband with instructions that he deliver money or valuables from his job to one of the group's accomplices. Another family member at the residence, however, heard sounds of a struggle and reportedly confronted the kidnappers, causing them to flee.

Three nights earlier, three armed men broke into the home of a female post office employee in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, and abducted the woman's friend. The employee was then ordered to deliver cash from the post office to another member of the gang. After the money was handed over, the hostage was released unharmed.

The previous night in the Irish town of Dundalk, in County Louth, a supermarket manager was abducted from his store and held overnight. The next morning, he was driven to the store and forced to hand over money while the perpetrators held two female employees who had just arrived.

On Oct. 1, armed men broke into the home of a businessman in Sion Mills, County Tyrone, and held his family hostage while the man went to his place of business to collect the demanded ransom. In that case, the assailants netted about $18,000, fleeing the scene after striking the man on the head with a gun and tying up his family. Similar incidents occurred in August in Dublin and in September in County Louth.

A "tiger kidnapping" is the abduction or seizure of one or more people for the purpose of coercing the targeted victim to comply with the kidnappers' demands. The target is someone with access to a company's cash or valuables, such as bank employees and managers, credit union staff, restaurant owners, business owners, truck drivers, jewelers and wealthy people. In most cases the family members, friends or associates will be threatened with bodily harm unless the target delivers the goods to the kidnappers. This is a twist on a tactic used by the Irish Republican Army, which carried out tiger kidnappings to coerce people into placing truck bombs at designated targets.

Like most kidnappings, these are complex crimes that usually require more than one person and involve a good deal of pre-operational surveillance. This extensive surveillance and planning reportedly gives the crime its unique name -- like a tiger prowling and stalking its victim.

The problem has become so serious in Ireland that the Irish Bank Officials Association raised the issue at its annual meeting, calling for a review of security procedures to safeguard against such kidnappings. Irish police believe that some of the tiger kidnappings are related, suggesting that an organized gang is at work.

There are some things that can be done to reduce the threat of falling victim to a tiger kidnapping, and mitigate the danger should one occur. Most important, businesses can establish a system whereby two people must work in tandem in order to open sensitive areas such as bank vaults and cash boxes. This prevents any single individual from being able to turn the valuables over to the kidnappers. To be successful, then, the kidnappers would either have to simultaneously carry out two separate operations, or chose another target.

Most kidnapping operations involve extensive planning and pre-operational surveillances. Tiger kidnappings are even more complex because they often involve keeping more than one person under control at the same time in different locations. This complexity requires even more pre-operational surveillance. By maintaining good situational awareness, people in sensitive positions usually can identify the surveillance and take steps to prevent the kidnapping. This requires that those under surveillance trust their instincts and not be afraid to raise the alarm when they feel they are being targeted.

Having sound procedures in place for employees and their family members and adequate safeguards for access to valuables are a vital line of defense against tiger kidnappings. Practicing situational awareness and trusting one's instincts are others.