Filed at 2:50 p.m. ET

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Some tote guns. Others have armed bodyguards and drive bulletproof cars. Still others take few precautions -- even though they live in the kidnap capital of the world.

But a rash of abductions in the past few weeks underscores the risks expatriates face in this South American country.

On Feb. 22, kidnappers in police uniforms stopped Japanese executive Chikao Muramatsu's Chevrolet Blazer in Bogota, commandeered the vehicle and sped off. Last Friday, gunmen kidnapped Lothar Hintze, a German, from the lakeside club he owns 80 miles south of Bogota.

Neither man has been heard from since.

These are just the recent kidnappings made public. Usually, efforts to secure the freedom of foreign hostages are conducted in secret, with the public only learning about the cases belatedly, if ever.

Last year, 41 foreigners were abducted in Colombia, according to the private Free Country foundation.

``There is a greater risk of being kidnapped in Colombia than in any other country in the world,'' the U.S. State Department warns.

And foreigners aren't the only ones held hostage for hefty ransoms. More than 3,000 Colombians were kidnapped last year alone.

For many of the Americans and other foreign businessmen, diplomats, teachers and journalists living in this city high in the Andes, a bunker mentality is setting in.

Executives from Occidental Petroleum and British Petroleum and their families have armed bodyguards. One British diplomat even carries an automatic pistol under his jacket.

For those who want to escape the often-chilly, rainy city of 7 million for a weekend or longer, few places are reachable by car.

Head in many directions from Bogota and you run into territory controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the nation's biggest rebel group. There's still a relatively safe corridor west to the village of Girardot and another to the colonial-style town of Villa de Leyva to the north.

Even the highway between Bogota and Colombia's second-biggest city, Medellin -- 155 miles away -- is often cut by rebels of the National Liberation Army. Motorists are hauled away at rebel roadblocks.

Getting lost in Colombia can mean trouble.

One diplomat was recently driving to the country home of a Colombian friend, but found himself in an area where rebels are active when he headed for a different village that had the same name as his true destination.

He made a call on his cell phone, realized his error and quickly turned around. The foreign diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, travels without protection and believes keeping a low profile is the answer.

One company started by a former British SAS commando, Control Risks Group, helps companies whose employees and families are covered by kidnap and ransom insurance.

``We advise companies who maybe are facing a kidnap crisis for the first time,'' said spokeswoman Nicola Hudson from the security firm's London headquarters. ``If something like this happens, it has a huge impact on the company and on the family.''

The company does not negotiate with kidnappers or mount daredevil rescues, she said, leaving those scenarios to Hollywood movies like the recently released ``Proof of Life,'' in which Russell Crowe seeks to rescue an American hostage in Colombia.

Security or no, the tension alone is enough to drive out some expatriates.

One American journalist decided last year that he had had enough of Colombia after he saw the red dot of a laser flash through his apartment window. Thinking it was a sniper, the veteran journalist hit the floor.

It turned out to be a neighborhood kid playing with a laser light.