PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) – The abductors of Pastor Lochard Rémy, a popular evangelical singer in Haiti, are demanding US $2 million ransom for his release, according to his wife, Yolie Rémy.

She told local media that the kidnappers ,said to be members of the notorious 400 Mawozo gang, had made the demand less than 24 hours after the abduction of her husband as he made his way to the God Eben Etzer Church for Sunday worship.

The kidnapping is the latest by gangs targeting pastors in the French-speaking country where kidnappings have become a source of income for criminal gangs.

The 400 Mowazo gang in October 2021 kidnapped a group of American missionaries and family members and one Canadian that were held for a ransom of one million US dollars per person.  

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In recent months, several pastors have either been killed or released after they were abducted.

On January 21, this year, Pastor Mathieu Chériné, one of the leaders of the Mahalaleel Church in Delmas, was shot several times and killed while trying to escape his captors.

Gunmen dressed up as members of the National Police of Haiti and kidnapped Pastor Jean Mary Ferrer Michel in front of the Jesus Center Church of Delmas 29, as well as two other people who were accompanying him.

Last September, 60-year-old Deacon Sylner Lafaille was shot and killed as gunmen tried to abduct him and his wife, Marie Marthe Laurent Lafaille.