Kidnapped Canadian brothers found shot dead in Venezuela

The body of the boys’ driver, 30-year-old Miguel Ribas, was found with them.

“We lament, despite the efforts that were made 24 hours a day since this started, we have not been able to prevent this abominable homicide,” Chacon said.

Police said the three were abducted on February 23 when unidentified men dressed as police stopped their car at a roadside checkpoint in Caracas as the boys were on their way to school.

Authorities haven’t ruled out the possibility the kidnappers could have been police officers.

Officials say the kidnappers had demanded more than $4.5m (€3.7m) in ransom. A lawyer for the boys’ family, Santiago Georges, said recently the family was not able to pay the sum demanded by the kidnappers.

John Faddoul, the children’s father, is a Canadian businessman who has been living in the country for more than 20 years.

The victims were found with gunshot wounds in the head and neck area, and it appeared they had been killed at least two days before their bodies were found, judicial police chief Marco Chavez said on state television.

The killings come just days after a prominent Italian-born businessman, 74-year-old Filippo Sindoni, was abducted and killed in Venezuela. That incident prompted Italy’s foreign minister to ask Venezuela to try to stop the kidnappings of Italians in the country.

In January, officials in Italy said an Italian businesswoman and her three-year-old son were freed two months after being abducted in Venezuela. Four men were arrested for their roles in the crime, officials said.

Violent robberies, kidnappings and murders are frequent in Venezuela. There were more than 9,000 murders reported in 2005, slightly down from 2004, according to government statistics.