The World - News from March 5, 1987

The U.S. Justice Department has helped the Salvadoran government in a benchmark criminal case by tracking down the bank records of two men linked to a kidnap-for-profit ring, investigators and U.S. Embassy officials said. According to authorities in San Salvador, the kidnaping ring, headed by rightist military officers, abducted at least six wealthy businessmen between 1982 and 1985 and may have collected as much as $4 million in ransoms. The ring made it appear the kidnapings were the work of leftist rebels. The case is viewed as a crucial test for President Jose Napoleon Duarte because it involves several high-ranking military officers.