From ancient intelligence networks to AI surveillance: The technology of rescue

Sometimes around 1010 BC, a king went out, and foreigners kidnapped his entire village. As he pursued them, he met another man who had been part of the kidnappers and made a deal with him. This man led him straight to their camp, and he recovered everyone, including his two wives.

This is one of the two accounts where people were kidnapped in the holy books. King David did the saving. The tactics used in both cases were an intelligence report, a surprise night attack, and fewer than 400 trusted soldiers. 

Kidnapping and capturing the unarmed has been the case since time immemorial. The technology used to rescue has always mirrored the technology of the age. Every civilisation that prized its people found ways to deploy its best tools to get them back. 

Precolonial era

People were kidnapped to be sold as slaves during intertribal wars and the transatlantic slave trade era. Ransom payments, crowdfunding, and negotiations existed during this period. The dominant rescue technologies were speed and information, which they used with spy networks, horses and domesticated birds. However, geography was a natural weapon in rescue efforts. Maps told where a captor was likely to move, which valley offered cover, and which route led to water.

Hunters, griots, and traders served as the intelligence infrastructure of this age due to oral tradition.

Colonial era 

Here, kidnapping for political leverage and ransom became a tool of leverage during legitimate trade. It worsened in the Niger Delta after oil was discovered. This was the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Europe was experiencing the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. This came with the inventions that compressed communication and distance. Like the telegraph, railways enabled military campaigns to move faster over greater distances, and the captors’ greatest ally was being eroded.

If a mission failed, the whole village would be purged, as in the Benin Expedition of 1897. Then, attack helicopters and gun trucks in the early years of independence.  

Read also: Inside Asaba computer village: A bustling gadgets hub 

The Present: Drones, data, and the limits of both 

In recent times, Nigeria has been a victim of insurgent mass abductions targeting young people like the Chibok girls, Kebbi students and Niger catholic students. Citizens have been calling for the use of technology to fight captors. As kidnappers increasingly use digital tools such as the internet to upload videos on platforms, pressure families and also to negotiate. Defence startups and even fintech are being called to respond in kind.

Satellite imagery, Signal intelligence and armed drones are available for use. After the 2014 abduction of the Chibok girls by Boko Haram, the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Israel all deployed surveillance assets to northern Nigeria. 

Artificial intelligence is also amplifying what is possible in defence. The technology gap, however, exists as most African countries operate with limited satellite access, aging military aircraft, underfunded signal intelligence units, and police forces that are under-resourced in the field. Technology is a force multiplier but doesn’t solve the harder problems of unchecked borders, poor rural development, and infrastructure deficits. 

What the tech ecosystem is doing about it

The kidnapping situation has been dubbed the “ransom economy.” It means that the continent is in dire need of startups to solve this problem for the market. 

Nigeria and South Africa are global epicenters of the crime. Reports indicate hundreds of mass abductions occur annually, and in 2025, Nigerians paid over ₦2.2 trillion in ransoms. In South Africa, provinces like Gauteng averaged 27 kidnappings per day.

Despite this, defence startups have one of the lowest levels of presence on the continent with an estimated 35-45 in total. Nigeria currently has about five, while South Africa has about 19-30. This is partly due to the cost of running such startups. Terra Industries, a 2-year-old Nigerian company, is the highest-funded in the sector, with investment largely from foreign investors.

In other countries, such as Kenya, Meta partnered with the government to enable automated AMBER Alerts on social media platforms. When a child is confirmed abducted, the system instantly pushes real-time location data, photos, and critical identifiers to the feeds of every user within a specific geographic radius. This has led to the rescue of 1,208 children from 1,551 reported cases.

It has also utilised Cellular signal tracking, digital geofencing, and forensic urban closed-circuit television (CCTV). In May, when a 2-year-old child was abducted in Nairobi. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) quickly retrieved local CCTV footage showing a teenager leading the child away. Nigeria is tapping into this.

After the killings in Jos, Plateau State, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy,  Bosun Tijani, said the federal government will install 5,000 AI-powered cameras.

The current drones have had some wins, however, as crime has become more sporadic. More hands will be needed. The Edo State Police Command deployed high-tech drones to comb dense forest areas following the abduction of 13 commercial passengers. The drones provided precise, live aerial intelligence of the kidnappers’ forest camps. This allowed tactical ground forces, which include hunters and vigilantes, to execute a surprise raid. The captives were successfully rescued unhurt.

Initiatives like the TALKAM App, developed in Nigeria used by agencies such as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), could also be useful in cases of kidnapping.

The tools will keep improving. The question of whether we will use them and for whom remains the oldest question of all. The response has been a return to what works, something close to what David used. 

Last updated: June 4, 2026