Four Americans taken from their yacht in the Indian Ocean by Somali pirates have been shot dead, the US military has said. US naval forces on the way to try to rescue the Americans heard gunshots and on arrival found the four hostages had been killed.
Showing posts with label kidnap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kidnap. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Mexico newspaper begs drug lords to spare reporters
A Mexican newspaper on the US border begged violent drug cartels for guidance on how to cover news in a way that would keep gangs from killing more journalists.
“You are the de facto authority in the city now,” El Diario newspaper said yesterday in an editorial, referring to cartels that have killed over 6,400 people in Ciudad Juarez since 2008.
“Explain what you want from us, what you want us to publish or stop publishing,” the paper said.
Military and forensic experts inspect the body of a man in Ciudad Juarez who was handcuffed to a fence and shot several times by drug cartel hitmen outside a nightclub.
Mexico is considered by media groups to be one of the world’s most dangerous places for reporters.
More than 30 media workers have disappeared or been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drug cartels in late 2006, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report this month.
Mexican newspapers are increasingly censoring their coverage of the drug war, and El Diario did not mention either of the drug lords fighting to control the city.
Some media have stopped mentioning the drug cartels by name or reporting on shootouts when they happen. Ciudad Juarez’s reporters speculate that cartels have killed journalists just for mentioning drug lords or their rivals in their stories.
El Diario, which publishes across the border from El Paso, Texas, said one of its photographers was killed by drug gang hitmen last week. He was the second journalist from the paper killed in the last two years.
“We don’t want any more deaths,” the paper said. “Tell us what you want from us.”
Mounting attacks on the media is just one face of the rising drug violence that has claimed more than 29,000 lives since Calderon took office, undermining Mexico’s global image and threatening a recovery from recession in Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Thousands of Mexican troops and elite federal police have been unable to quell a brutal offensive in Ciudad Juarez by Mexico’s most wanted narcotics trafficker, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, for control of the city.
Guzman wants to wrest control of the city from Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, long-time head of the Juarez drug cartel, who drug experts say handles about a fifth of a drug business believed to earn up to $40 billion (RM124 billion) a year for the cartels.
“You are the de facto authority in the city now,” El Diario newspaper said yesterday in an editorial, referring to cartels that have killed over 6,400 people in Ciudad Juarez since 2008.
“Explain what you want from us, what you want us to publish or stop publishing,” the paper said.
Mexico is considered by media groups to be one of the world’s most dangerous places for reporters.
More than 30 media workers have disappeared or been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drug cartels in late 2006, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report this month.
Mexican newspapers are increasingly censoring their coverage of the drug war, and El Diario did not mention either of the drug lords fighting to control the city.
Some media have stopped mentioning the drug cartels by name or reporting on shootouts when they happen. Ciudad Juarez’s reporters speculate that cartels have killed journalists just for mentioning drug lords or their rivals in their stories.
El Diario, which publishes across the border from El Paso, Texas, said one of its photographers was killed by drug gang hitmen last week. He was the second journalist from the paper killed in the last two years.
“We don’t want any more deaths,” the paper said. “Tell us what you want from us.”
Mounting attacks on the media is just one face of the rising drug violence that has claimed more than 29,000 lives since Calderon took office, undermining Mexico’s global image and threatening a recovery from recession in Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Thousands of Mexican troops and elite federal police have been unable to quell a brutal offensive in Ciudad Juarez by Mexico’s most wanted narcotics trafficker, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, for control of the city.
Guzman wants to wrest control of the city from Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, long-time head of the Juarez drug cartel, who drug experts say handles about a fifth of a drug business believed to earn up to $40 billion (RM124 billion) a year for the cartels.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch to publish her memoirs
Ordeal: Kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch, now 22, will tell the story of her eight-year imprisonment in her memoirs due out in September.Monster: Wolfgang Priklopil kidnapped Natascha and kept her in this room in his home for eight years until she managed to escape. He then killed himself
Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch will tell the story of her eight years imprisoned in an underground cell in memoirs to be published in September.
The 220-page book, called '3,096 Days', will be published in German according to Austrian daily Oesterreich and a listing on the online bookseller Amazon.
Natascha and kept her in this room in his home for eight years until she managed to escape
Ms Kampusch, now 22, made headlines around the world after she escaped from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil in 2006. He killed himself hours later.
Her spokesman Wolfgang Brunner told the newspaper: 'It is true that Ms Kampusch is working on her autobiography, this is her main focus at the moment.'
She is also working on a film of her story, due for release in 2012, and has chaired her own talk show and made several carefully planned media appearances since her ordeal.
Austria reeled over another abuse scandal in 2008 when it emerged that Josef Fritzl had imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, one of which he murdered through neglect.
He was jailed for life last year.
Austrian media have reported that both Elisabeth and her father are also penning their life stories.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Officials: British boy kidnapped in Pakistan found
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A Pakistani police officer walks outside the office of regional police chief, where kidnapped British child Sahil Saeed is reportedly brought on Tuesday, March 16,2010 in Jhelum, Pakistan. Kidnappers released Saeed, a 5-year-old British boy unharmed Tuesday almost two weeks after abducting him from his grandparents' house in central Pakistan, British and Pakistani officials said.
This is an undated family handout file photo made available Thursday March 4, 2010 of Sahil Saeed, who was kidnapped whilst in Pakistan with his father. Police official Ijaz Ahmed says the boy was found unharmed Tuesday March 16, 2010, in the town of Dinga in Punjab province.
Akila Naqqash kisses a picture of her son Sahil Saeed, 5, who has been found safe and well after he was kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan, at their home in Oldham, England, Tuesday March 16, 2010. Sahil Saeed, was found in a small village in Punjab province, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Jhelum city where armed robbers seized him from his grandparents home on March 4, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. British High Commissioner Adam Thomson expressed relief the boy had been found and thanked Pakistani authorities for their cooperation in the search
Akila Naqqash holds a photo of her son Sahil Saeed, 5, who has been found safe and well after he was kidnapped by gunmen in Pakistan, at their home in Oldham, England, Tuesday March 16, 2010. Sahil Saeed, was found in a small village in Punjab province, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Jhelum city where armed robbers seized him from his grandparents home on March 4, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. British High Commissioner Adam Thomson expressed relief the boy had been found and thanked Pakistani authorities for their cooperation in the search
Kidnappers released a 5-year-old British boy unharmed Tuesday almost two weeks after abducting him from his grandparents' house in central Pakistan, British and Pakistani officials said.
A senior provincial official said a ransom was paid for the freedom of Sahil Saeed, who is of Pakistani origin, but he did not identify who abducted the boy and received the money.
Saeed was found in a small village in Punjab province, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Jhelum city where armed robbers seized him on March 4, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Pakistani authorities have said someone in the family was involved in the abduction — a charge the family denies. One relative also said Tuesday that no ransom was paid.
British High Commissioner Adam Thomson expressed relief the boy had been found and thanked Pakistani authorities for their cooperation in the search.
"This is fantastic news that brings to an end the traumatic ordeal faced by Sahil and his family," Thomson said in a statement.
The boy was examined by a doctor, Hafeezur Rehman, who said he looked "healthy and happy."
"There was no sign of depression on his face," Rehman told The Associated Press. "He was playing with toys at a government rest house when I examined him."
Senior police official Mohammad Aslam Tareen told reporters that the British High Commission now has custody of the boy and has been communicating with his parents.
Malik, the interior minister, did not reveal the identity of the kidnappers but said someone from the family was involved in the abduction, echoing a charge made by several other Pakistani officials.
Malik said the boy's father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, returned to Britain last week against Pakistan's wishes.
The family initially denied he had left the country. But Manchester police said Tuesday that he was indeed in Britain and was cooperating with authorities.
"There's still a very active criminal investigation and Greater Manchester Police and the Pakistani authorities are still determined to bring people to justice," said Assistant Chief Constable David Thompson.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told AP Television News that a ransom had been paid but that the boy's father was not a suspect in the abduction, saying he "is not involved in this."
"An international gang was involved in it, and it was demanding the ransom (be paid) outside Pakistan in a European country," he said.
The boy's father previously said the kidnappers had demanded 100,000 British pounds ($150,000) in ransom, an amount he said the family could not afford.
"In this case, a ransom has been paid. But it is too early to say who arranged this and how," Sanaullah said.
But the boy's grandfather, Raja Mohammed Basharat, told ARY television Tuesday that "according to my information, no ransom has been paid."
The number of kidnappings for ransom has soared in Pakistan, where Taliban-led militancy and a struggling economy have fueled crime. Most victims are Pakistani nationals.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
'It WAS Maddie': Witness convinced girl in photo that Portuguese police kept secret was missing Madeleine
The woman who reported a possible sighting of Madeleine McCann in New Zealand which was kept secret by Portuguese police said today she 'absolutely believes' it was the missing girl.
Files have been released showing that Portuguese police dismissed dozens of potential sightings of Madeleine.
Leads from around the world - including the CCTV footage from New Zealand of a child looking strikingly like the missing girl - were filed away under the heading 'not relevant'.
Information that police forces in the United States, Europe and North Africa considered important was also discarded.
None of the files was handed to private investigators working for Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate.
Taryn Dryfhout was working on the tills at the Warehouse discount store in Dunedin, New Zealand, when she saw the girl with a man, a woman and a boy.
She said the girl 'looked just like" Madeleine and spoke with an English accent.
Ms Dryfhout told broadcaster TVNZ's ONE News: 'She told me that her name was Hayley and was quite apprehensive... and sort of stammered over her words when she was trying to think of her name. She was just very shy and afraid.'
The shop worker said the adults with the children were 'a little bit suspicious' and added that the woman seemed to be in a hurry to leave when she spoke to her.
Ms Dryfhout said it was disappointing that her possible sighting was not fully followed up.
She told the broadcaster: 'I absolutely believe it was her. I have no doubt in my mind'.
Mrs McCann, 41, said the disclosure of the secret files was heartbreaking and shocking.
Their existence came to light in a legal action brought by the McCanns against Goncalo Amaral, the disgraced detective who was in charge of the case.
They had wanted to stop him airing the slur that they had been involved in their daughter's disappearance.
The leads were all received and archived after Algarve police closed the case in July 2008.
Madeleine was four when she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007. Her parents were at a restaurant 80 yards away.
They now have a copy of the 2,000-page dossier which was published yesterday on the order of a court in Portugal after an application by newspapers including the Daily Mail.
The McCanns are incensed that their private investigators were given no access to the sightings at the time.
Mrs McCann said: 'There are instances where information which we think is very credible and worthy of information has not been actioned.
'We're gutted, it's absolutely shocking and difficult. Some of the information handed in was very credible. It's heartbreaking to know that it seems to end there.'
Mr McCann, also 41, was particularly angered at Inspector Ricardo Paiva, who was responsible for collating any information about Madeleine after the formal investigation ended.
He said: 'Inspector Paiva believes Madeleine is dead. How can he investigate thoroughly if he believes that? We know now there is a lot of information just filed away - and that is not acceptable. Once the file has been closed, what has actually been done? Next to nothing.'
The file contains a series of sightings which the McCanns would have expected to be fully investigated.
The astonishing CCTV footage from New Zealand shows a girl very like Madeleine being led into a supermarket by a portly man in shorts - seven months after her disappearance.
The man's behaviour aroused the suspicions of a female security guard in the shop in Dunedin on the South Island and she approached the girl to establish she was British.
Although the girl said her name was 'Hailey', the security guard was convinced the girl was Madeleine and reported the incident to police.
Interpol in Wellington then sent the images to police in Portugal who promptly deemed it 'not relevant'.
Other discarded leads include:
• A British ex-pat saying he saw a girl being dragged along a road toward the airport on the night Madeleine disappeared. He had not approached the authorities earlier because he was wanted for fraud.
• A girl like Madeleine was seen with an unkempt Spanish-looking man in his 30s at a shop near Murcia. The woman witness followed the girl but the pair vanished. She failed to tell Spanish police until June 2008.
• Another lookalike wearing only a dirty yellow jumper was seen being held at gunpoint on a French motorway by a half-naked man in August 2008. French lorry driver Michel Guidard walked toward them only to be threatened with a gun.
• Photos from the internet uncovered by a female French detective were found to show images of sexual abuse which involved a girl resembling Madeleine.
• An account by a Scottish mother of two who saw a girl who looked like Madeleine with a group of gipsies in Albufeira, Portugal, in July 2008. A woman who was with the girl ran off down the hill with her when two police officers turned up.
• Details of a sighting of a girl on October 9, 2008, with a Portuguese man living in the U.S. He allegedly ran a child trafficking operation smuggling in children from his homeland, Mexico and Greece.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: 'They are incredibly frustrated that this was sitting there and being disregarded by the Portuguese police.
'They were shocked when they saw the scale of the information that had come in and the lack of action taken.
'There are potential leads in the file that are now being followed up by our investigators.
'It's more than a pity that the file has just sat there for so long and simply marked "not relevant" by the Portuguese.
'There are also images in the file that are strikingly similar to Madeleine and are being looked into.'
Lead: This CCTV image of a girl strongly resembling Madeleine in a supermarket in New Zealand was among the leads deemed 'not relevant' by Portugese police
No follow up: Another CCTV image showing the girl resembling Maddie in the New Zealand supermarket
Kate and Gerry McCann said they were 'gutted' to discover that they weren't given access to secret files involving their daughter's disappearance
Secret files: The police dossier.Madeleine went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Ten American Christians arrested in Haiti trying to take 33 orphans out of the country
Haitian authorities have questioned a group of 10 Americans who are accused of illegally trying to smuggle 33 children out of earthquake-shattered Haiti.
A prosecutor met with the Baptist church group at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, where they have been held since they were arrested on Friday trying to cross into the Dominican Republic with a busload of children.
The Baptist missionaries deny charges that they were engaged in child trafficking and insist they were only trying to help vulnerable children left orphaned by the quake.
Haitian authorities said the five men and five women had no paperwork authorising them to take the children, who are aged between two months and 12 years.
The group, from the Idaho-based charity New Life Children's Refuge, were stopped at Malpasse, Haiti's main border crossing, after police conducted a search of their bus.
Officers said they were arrested because they did not have proof that the youngsters - many of whom were sick and dehydrated - were orphans.
The case could be diplomatically sensitive at a time when the U.S. is spearheading a huge relief effort to help hundreds of thousands of victims of the quake.
Yesterday, the U.S. military resumed medical evacuation flights of critically-injured victims to America, ending a five-day suspension caused by a dispute over where to treat patients and who would pay for their care.
Prime Minister of Haiti Max Bellerive said yesterday he was outraged by the group's 'illegal trafficking of children' in a country long afflicted by the problem.
But some parents say they would part with their children if it would mean a better life.
Adonis Helman, 44, one of some 20 Haitian parents interviewed at a tent camp yesterday said: 'Some parents I know have already given their children to foreigners.'
'I've been thinking how I will choose which one I may give - probably my youngest.'
The arrests will renew concerns about child abduction, which has blighted Haiti for years. Even before the 7.0 earthquake struck on January 12, killing as many as 200,000, around 2,000 youngsters were believed to be being taken from the streets each year.
Aid groups say 500,000 children have either been made homeless or are in orphanages following the quake, and that rumours of child trafficking are circulating. In response, Haiti’s government has imposed strict controls on adoptions amid fears traffickers could exploit the current chaos.
Although hundreds of children have been flown to the U.S. to meet new parents, most were already in the process of being adopted before the disaster.
The 33 children, aged between 2 months to 12 years, have been taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children’s Villages, which is trying to find their parents or close relatives.
A spokesman said: ‘One child, an eight-year-old, said she thought she was going to some sort of summer camp in the Dominican Republic.
'She was crying, and saying, "I am not an orphan. I still have my parents".'
Yves Cristalin, Haiti’s social affairs minister, said: ‘This is totally illegal. It is an abduction, not an adoption. What is important is that a child needs to have authorisation to leave the country.’
Deb Barry, a protection expert at Save the Children, which wants a moratorium on new adoptions said: 'The instinct to swoop in and rescue children may be a natural impulse but it cannot be the solution for the tens of thousands of children left vulnerable by the Haiti earthquake.'
'The possibility of a child being scooped up and mistakenly labelled an orphan in the chaotic aftermath of the disaster is incredibly high.'
But Laura Silsby, the group’s leader, insisted that they had done nothing wrong.
At a police station next to the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince, she said: ‘We came here to help and we know God will reveal the truth.
‘I was going to come back and do the paperwork. They accuse us of children trafficking. This is something I would never do. We were not trying to do something wrong - we had permission from the Dominican Republic government to bring the children to an orphanage we have there.
‘We have a Baptist minister here in Port-au-Prince whose orphanage totally collapsed and he asked us to take the children.’
Sean Lankford, whose wife and daughter are among those arrested, said the group had rented hotel rooms to house the children until an orphanage could be built.
‘It really is shocking because it really is a rescue mission for these children,’ he added.
‘They’re really hoping to save their lives.’
The charity is buying land to build a home for up to 150 orphans and provide a place for adoptive parents who want to take the children back to the U.S, he said.
Clint Henry, pastor of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, which founded the group, said: ‘I know that there has been illegal activity down there and it’s unfortunate that we would be associated with that.
‘I don’t know what to say but God is in control and he’s got it figured out and we’re trusting him. It probably comes down to paperwork and we believed that we had done everything we needed to do.’
Max Beauvoir, head of Haiti's Voodoo Priest's Association, which represents thousands of priests and priestesses, said: 'There are many who come here with religious ideas that belong more in the time of the inquisition.
'These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves. We need compassion, not proselytising now, and we need aid - not just aid going to people of the Christian faith.'
Two-thirds of Haiti's 9 million population are said to practice Voodoo, a melange of beliefs from parts of west Africa and Catholicism.
A Haitian judge is expected to hear the case today to decide whether to bring charges against the group.
Relief workers in Haiti have begun to hand out women-only food coupons to ensure the most vulnerable receive aid supplies.
They said young men often force their way to the front of queues and even overpower women and children to get the best aid.
The UN World Food Program coupons can be exchanged at 16 sites and give a family 25kg (55lbs) of rice, which lasts a fortnight.
Held: The group of missionaries insist they have done nothing wrong, despite having no paperwork allowing them to take the children out of the country
Questioned: Three of the women arrested for alleged child trafficking answer questions at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince
.
Held: Looters are detained at an electric appliance shop in Port-au-Prince. One man was shot dead
Arrested: More than 50 people looted an electrical appliance shop here on Friday. U.S. soldiers and Haiti policemen detained them after a gun battle
.
Desperate: A crowd gathers hoping to receive food distributed by U.S. Army 82nd Airborne soldiers in the Cite Soleil neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince yesterday
Abducted? Some of the children suspected to have been taken by the charity
Arrested: Eight of the accused, including leader Laura Silsby, second from right, at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince
In ruins: A man balances a coffin on his head in Port-au-Prince as he passes a collapsed building
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Monday, February 1, 2010
Skeletal and terrified: British yacht couple reveal cruelty of their Somali pirate captors
Her face is gaunt and drawn, her frame skeletal and weak.
The shocking effects of captivity are all too clear in this picture of Rachel Chandler, who has been held by Somali pirates for the last three months.
The image was taken by a French news agency that was allowed to accompany a doctor who examined Mrs Chandler and her husband Paul, who are being held separately.
The strain on 56-year-old Mrs Chandler’s face is clearly visible as she sits with her dress hanging loosely from her thin shoulders.
Yesterday she renewed her plea for urgent help, saying: ‘We have not much time left and are being badly treated. Please help us – these people are not treating us well.’
She went on: ‘I’m old, I’m 56, and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left. These people are treating us so cruelly.’
This is only the second time Mrs Chandler, an economist, has been seen since she and her husband were kidnapped in October at gunpoint as they sailed in their yacht towards Tanzania.
The last time was in November, when a video taken by the kidnappers – who are demanding a £1.9million ransom – was shown on Channel 4.
They have made other pleas for help in desperate phone calls, most recently on January 21, but the physical deterioration in yesterday’s new images are clear.
The Somalian doctor who examined Mrs Chandler said she was suffering a heavy ‘mental’ toll as well, which was manifested in ‘insomnia’.
Surgeon Mohamed Helmi Hangul, who spent three weeks securing permission to visit the couple, said: 'She's very confused, she's always asking about her husband - "Where's my husband, where's my husband?" - and she seems completely disorientated.'
'If I was with my husband I would feel a lot better,' Mrs Chandler told the medic.
'It's because I am not with my husband that I am feeling so lonely and desperate and finding it difficult to sleep.
'I need to be with Paul. We are husband and wife. We have always been together and we look after one another.'Mr Chandler also appeared gaunt in the video taken last Thursday but released last night.
His ribs could be seen as he lifted his shirt to be checked by the doctor, who reported he had a cough and a fever.
In the video, filmed by the AFP photographer, Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor, called on the British Government to intervene.
'I just want to say please to my government, get me and my wife out of here. We are innocent we have done nothing wrong.
We have no money and can’t pay a ransom. We just need the Government to help, anyone who can get us out of here.
‘Day after day and this is 98 days of solitary confinement, no exercise. I don’t know what to do.’
Mr Chandler finally pleaded: ‘Will somebody please help? The government or somebody else.’
Dr Hangul added he had not been allowed to bring any drugs with him but left a prescription-with the pirates.
‘I gave them some advice and told them, “Your hostages can die. All you want is money so treat them well, let them reunite”,’ he said.
Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, was too distressed to comment last night.
A family friend said: ‘This is a highly distressing time for the family. They know the stakes are high and they are in an impossible position.
'The pirates want an unaffordable ransom and the Government won’t pay it.’
There has been sporadic communication with the Chandlers since they were captured, although this was the first time a journalist had been able to meet them.
Eleven days ago Mr Chandler spoke to ITV news, explaining their captives had ‘set a deadline of three or four days’, after which they expected to them to ‘kill us and abandon us in the desert’.
In a separate call, Mrs Chandler said she had been hit with an object she believed was a gun.
A gang member told the Daily Mail last month that the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, would be shot by the end of February if they were not paid a $3million ransom.
The Chandlers are being held in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small inland town of Amara but are moved every 48 hours.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has already insisted the Government will not become involved in any ransom payments.
A Foreign Office spokesman last night said: ‘We are doing everything we can to help secure their release.
'We remain in regular contact with the family and are providing support. We call for the safe and swift release of Paul and Rachel.'
How events unfolded after the Chandlers were captured aboard their yacht
One of the Somali pirate crews that operate off the country's coast and regularly attack shipping. This particular group seized 29 ships in 2008 and earned £6million in ransom money
Mr Chandler is examined by the doctor who visited with the video journalist: He and his wife are being held in separate locations in rugged countryside between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara
Mr Chandler, 60, pleaded for help and said conditions they were being held in were 'difficult'
Mrs Chandler being examined by the Somali doctor Abdi Mohamed Helmi.Disorientated: Rachel Chandler looked frail and weak in the video footage. She and her husband have been held for three months
With guns pointed at their backs, Paul and Rachel Chandler are forced to beg for mercy in a video released by their Somali kidnappers three months ago
The Chandlers looking healthy in Kerala, India - the couple were on a round-the-world trip when captured by pirates
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The shocking effects of captivity are all too clear in this picture of Rachel Chandler, who has been held by Somali pirates for the last three months.
The image was taken by a French news agency that was allowed to accompany a doctor who examined Mrs Chandler and her husband Paul, who are being held separately.
The strain on 56-year-old Mrs Chandler’s face is clearly visible as she sits with her dress hanging loosely from her thin shoulders.
Yesterday she renewed her plea for urgent help, saying: ‘We have not much time left and are being badly treated. Please help us – these people are not treating us well.’
She went on: ‘I’m old, I’m 56, and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left. These people are treating us so cruelly.’
This is only the second time Mrs Chandler, an economist, has been seen since she and her husband were kidnapped in October at gunpoint as they sailed in their yacht towards Tanzania.
The last time was in November, when a video taken by the kidnappers – who are demanding a £1.9million ransom – was shown on Channel 4.
They have made other pleas for help in desperate phone calls, most recently on January 21, but the physical deterioration in yesterday’s new images are clear.
The Somalian doctor who examined Mrs Chandler said she was suffering a heavy ‘mental’ toll as well, which was manifested in ‘insomnia’.
Surgeon Mohamed Helmi Hangul, who spent three weeks securing permission to visit the couple, said: 'She's very confused, she's always asking about her husband - "Where's my husband, where's my husband?" - and she seems completely disorientated.'
'If I was with my husband I would feel a lot better,' Mrs Chandler told the medic.
'It's because I am not with my husband that I am feeling so lonely and desperate and finding it difficult to sleep.
'I need to be with Paul. We are husband and wife. We have always been together and we look after one another.'Mr Chandler also appeared gaunt in the video taken last Thursday but released last night.
His ribs could be seen as he lifted his shirt to be checked by the doctor, who reported he had a cough and a fever.
In the video, filmed by the AFP photographer, Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor, called on the British Government to intervene.
'I just want to say please to my government, get me and my wife out of here. We are innocent we have done nothing wrong.
We have no money and can’t pay a ransom. We just need the Government to help, anyone who can get us out of here.
‘Day after day and this is 98 days of solitary confinement, no exercise. I don’t know what to do.’
Mr Chandler finally pleaded: ‘Will somebody please help? The government or somebody else.’
Dr Hangul added he had not been allowed to bring any drugs with him but left a prescription-with the pirates.
‘I gave them some advice and told them, “Your hostages can die. All you want is money so treat them well, let them reunite”,’ he said.
Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, was too distressed to comment last night.
A family friend said: ‘This is a highly distressing time for the family. They know the stakes are high and they are in an impossible position.
'The pirates want an unaffordable ransom and the Government won’t pay it.’
There has been sporadic communication with the Chandlers since they were captured, although this was the first time a journalist had been able to meet them.
Eleven days ago Mr Chandler spoke to ITV news, explaining their captives had ‘set a deadline of three or four days’, after which they expected to them to ‘kill us and abandon us in the desert’.
In a separate call, Mrs Chandler said she had been hit with an object she believed was a gun.
A gang member told the Daily Mail last month that the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, would be shot by the end of February if they were not paid a $3million ransom.
The Chandlers are being held in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small inland town of Amara but are moved every 48 hours.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has already insisted the Government will not become involved in any ransom payments.
A Foreign Office spokesman last night said: ‘We are doing everything we can to help secure their release.
'We remain in regular contact with the family and are providing support. We call for the safe and swift release of Paul and Rachel.'
How events unfolded after the Chandlers were captured aboard their yacht
One of the Somali pirate crews that operate off the country's coast and regularly attack shipping. This particular group seized 29 ships in 2008 and earned £6million in ransom money
Mr Chandler is examined by the doctor who visited with the video journalist: He and his wife are being held in separate locations in rugged countryside between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara
Mr Chandler, 60, pleaded for help and said conditions they were being held in were 'difficult'
Mrs Chandler being examined by the Somali doctor Abdi Mohamed Helmi.Disorientated: Rachel Chandler looked frail and weak in the video footage. She and her husband have been held for three months
With guns pointed at their backs, Paul and Rachel Chandler are forced to beg for mercy in a video released by their Somali kidnappers three months ago
The Chandlers looking healthy in Kerala, India - the couple were on a round-the-world trip when captured by pirates
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Somali pirates hijack two ships off East African coast-Somali pirates seize two more vessels
The St James Park issued a distress call on Monday night saying it had been attacked by pirates
Somali pirates have captured two ships with 45 crew off the East African coast, officials say.
A UK-flagged chemical tanker, the St James Park, was reportedly captured in the Gulf of Aden on Monday while on its way to Thailand from Spain.
Its 26 crew hail from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Georgia, India, Turkey and the Philippines.
The Navios Apollon, a Panamanian-flagged Greek cargo ship with 19 crew, was hijacked north of the Seychelles.
The 50,000-tonne carrier - which had been sailing from the US state of Florida to India - was boarded on Monday by 10 men in speedboats, according to the Greek coastguard.
Pirate attacks have been common off the Somali coast and international navies have been deployed to counter them.
'No contact'
The St James Park issued a distress call on Monday night saying it had been attacked by pirates, said the International Maritime Bureau
The tanker, which was carrying a cargo of chemicals used to make plastics, had changed course and was now heading towards the northern coast of Somalia, said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Programme.
"It is expected to arrive there later this evening," Mr Mwangura told AFP news agency.
The ship's owner-operators told the BBC they were working for "the early and safe release of our crew members on board".
A spokesman for Zodiac Maritime Agencies said the company had had no contact with the St James Park or the pirates but was in contact with the European naval force in the area.
The waters around Somalia are among the most dangerous in the world.
Correspondents say the upsurge in piracy in the region is a consequence of the failure to find a solution to Somalia's continuing political disarray.
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Somali pirates say British couple taken to land-Somali pirates: Western boats 'loot' Somali fish
n this undated photo made available by the family, shows Paul Chandler, who went missing with his wife Rachel when sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania after sending a distress signal on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, at an unknown location. The British navy on Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 found an empty yacht in international waters belonging to the missing British couple and a defense official said Somali pirates may have transferred them to another vessel. International naval forces have been searching for the couple for days. Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent last Friday.
In this undated photo made available by the family, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who went missing when sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania after sending a distress signal on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, are seen at an unknown location. The British navy on Thursday found an empty yacht in international waters belonging to the missing British couple and a defense official said Somali pirates may have transferred them to another vessel. International naval forces have been searching for the couple for days. Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent last Friday.
In this undated photo made available by the family, shows Paul Chandler, who went missing with his wife Rachel when sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania after sending a distress signal on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, at an unknown location. The British navy on Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 found an empty yacht in international waters belonging to the missing British couple and a defense official said Somali pirates may have transferred them to another vessel. International naval forces have been searching for the couple for days. Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent last Friday.
In this undated photo made available by the family, shows Paul Chandler, who went missing with his wife Rachel when sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania after sending a distress signal on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, at an unknown location. The British navy on Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 found an empty yacht in international waters belonging to the missing British couple and a defense official said Somali pirates may have transferred them to another vessel. International naval forces have been searching for the couple for days. Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent last Friday.
Somali pirates who are demanding $7 million in ransom for a British sailing couple say boats from other countries are "looting" Somalia's fish-rich waters.
Ahmed Gadaf, who says he's a spokesman for the pirates, says Western fishing vessels "harass" local fishermen and destroy their nets. Gadaf spoke to The Associated Press by satellite phone.
Gadaf says the British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, are safe and will not be harmed.
Illegal fishing off the coast of Somalia stirs strong passions in the country. The country's prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, said in a speech last week that many countries are fishing illegally in Somali waters and have pushed formerly profitable Somali fishermen into the pirate trade.
Somali pirates who are demanding $7 million in ransom for a British sailing couple say boats from other countries are plundering Somalia's fish-rich waters, a pirate spokesman said Saturday.
Ahmed Gadaf, who says he's a spokesman for the pirates, said the group holding the couple hostage off Somalia's coast was made up of "voluntary guards" — not pirates.
"The Western forces continue to loot our natural resources. They continue to harass local fishermen and destroy their fishing nets, so we want them to taste the consequence," Gadaf said by satellite phone from the coastal town of Haradhere.
The British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, are safe and will not be harmed, Gadaf said. They will be released once the ransom is paid, he said.
The Chandlers were headed to Tanzania in their boat, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent Oct. 23. The British navy found their empty yacht on Thursday, and both have been in sporadic contact with the British media since.
Illegal fishing off the coast of Somalia stirs strong passions in the country. The prime minister of Somalia's transitional government, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, said in a speech Wednesday that many pirates are former fishermen "responding to the loss and disappearance of their livelihoods."
"Many of these pirates were once profitable fisherman and would be so again given the chance," he said at the London-based Chatham House think tank.
"I shall not name names, but suffice to say many countries are fishing illegally in Somali waters," he said. "We estimate that the value of the fish being taken from our waters is perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.
"It is wholly unacceptable for these countries, many of whom claim they want to help Somalia, to turn a blind eye to this theft. Particularly when that theft robs thousands of Somali people of a way out of poverty and a way out of piracy," Sharmarke said.
Rachel Chandler told her brother in a telephone call broadcast by ITV News on Friday that the pirates were "hospitable people," a message that Sharmarke underscored in his London remarks.
British officials held a meeting on the hostage situation Friday in the government's crisis briefing room. The Foreign Office said a team from across several government departments was involved. Both the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defense declined to comment on whether any potential rescue was under consideration.
Pirate attacks have increased the last several weeks after the recent end of the monsoon season. An international armada is patrolling the region to try to stop the attacks.
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Friday, September 18, 2009
Search dogs detect something on Garrido property- May found bodies in the house property.
Inside Jaycee Lee Dugard's tent there are signs of both normalcy and sorrow: a cartoon sheet, black and white photos and blue-starred necklaces. But police say Dugard was forced to live in this tent with her two daughters who were fathered by her abductor, Phillip Garrido.
Police found utter squalor in the Antioch, Calif., backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido. The pair has been charged with the abduction and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard.
An undated Google Map aerial view of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home clearly shows the series of blue tarps that police say housed Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two children. Now, armed with rakes, shovels and chain saws, officers are combing the backyard and the one next door for evidence of other crimes.
Jaycee Lee Dugard, now 29, was reunited with her mother, sister and another relative on Aug. 27, 2009. Her stepfather says her two children remain with her and she is healthy although she feels guilty about developing a bond with her alleged abductor, Phillip Garrido.
Jaycee Lee Dugard's hidden two decades began to come into view on Aug. 26, 2009, as her alleged captors Phillip and Nancy Garrido walked a now 29-year-old Dugard, who called herself "Alissa," and her two daughters, allegedly sired by Phillip Garido, into a parole meeting. Phillip Garrido was convicted for a 1977 kidnapping and rape but was paroled after only 11 years of a 50-year sentence.
Investigators are searching for clues to other crimes at the Garrido home
The Garridos have denied charges relating to the kidnap of Jaycee Dugard
A child's tricycle is shown the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. In 1991, Dugard was snatched on her way to school and was hidden for nearly two decades behind a series of fences, sheds and tents less than 200 miles from her childhood home.
Police found utter squalor in the Antioch, Calif., backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido. The pair has been charged with the abduction and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard.
This is a look inside the tent that housed Jaycee Lee Dugard. Police say, after her 1991 abduction, Dugard was taken directly to the hidden tents and shacks in the leafy backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home.
Police say this is the tent in which Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. Kidnapped at age 11, Dugard was snatched on her way to school and was hidden for nearly two decades behind a series of fences, sheds and tents, even giving birth to her alleged abductor Phillip Garrido's children in this suburban backyard compound less than 200 miles from her childhood home.
Inside Jaycee Lee Dugard's tent there are signs of both normalcy and sorrow: a cartoon sheet, black and white photos and blue-starred necklaces. But police say Dugard was forced to live in this tent with her two daughters who were fathered by her abductor, Phillip Garrido.
Two shacks are seen in the backyard Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 28, 2009.
A tent is seen in the far backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived with her two daughters. The kidnapping took another disturbing turn as authorities searched the home of her alleged captor for evidence in the murders of several prostitutes and new evidence surfaced of missed opportunities to arrest him years ago.
A child's swing is shown in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived.
Authorities look at a shack in the backyard Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 28, 2009, where police say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. Police have widened their investigation of the Garridos and are looking for evidence that might tie them to the murder of several prostitutes.
Authorities walk next to shacks in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 28, 2009.
A tent is seen in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 28, 2009, where authorities say kidnapped victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived.
An FBI agent carries a bag of evidence from Phillip and Nancy Garrido's Antioch, Calif., home on Aug. 27, 2009.
An FBI agent inspects a car as it is impounded from the Antioch, Calif., home of Phillip and Nancy Garrido on Aug. 27, 2009. Jaycee Lee Dugard's stepfather witnessed her 1991 abduction and gave police a description of her kidnapper's car, but police never found it.
Nancy Garrido is seen with his court-appointed attorney in the El Dorado Superior Court in Placerville, Calif., Aug. 28, 2009. Garrido was arraigned on 29 felony counts stemming from the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 at the time. Garrido pleaded not guilty on charges including forcible abduction, rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment.
Phillip Garrido is seen with his court appointed attorney in the El Dorado Superior Court in Placerville, Calif., Aug. 28, 2009. Garrido was arraigned on 29 felony counts stemming from the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 at the time. Garrido pleaded not guilty on charges including forcible abduction, rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment.
Authorities investigating two missing girl cases say that cadaver dogs have picked up a scent that may indicate there are buried remains in the backyard of a Northern California couple already charged in a kidnapping.Two dogs trained to hunt for human remains have found a possible scent at the California home of kidnap suspect Phillip Garrido, US police say.
Alameda County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said Thursday two dogs alerted at a site in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido.
The couple is charged with the 1991 kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard.
Their Antioch home has become a focal point of investigators reviewing outstanding kidnapping cases in the San Francisco Bay area.
Nelson is not saying where in the yard the dogs picked up a scent. He also cautioned about false positives.
Investigators plan to scan the site Friday with high-tech equipment.
Ground-penetrating radar will be used to search the spot identified by the cadaver dogs, a police spokesman said.
Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy are accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard when she was 11 and holding her captive in their backyard for 18 years.
They are also being investigated over the disappearance of two other girls.
Bones found
"The first dog was very tentative on its indications. The second dog was more direct and indicating directly."
Sgt Nelson said high-tech radar equipment would be used on Friday to scan the site, and if it yielded results then the digging would begin.
Bones were found both at the Garrido residence and at an adjacent property on Wednesday, but it is not known whether they are animal or human and they are currently being analysed.
Michaela Garecht, nine, was abducted from outside a grocery store in Hayward, California, in 1988. A year later, 13-year-old Ilene Misheloff vanished in nearby Dublin.
Both areas, on the outskirts of San Francisco, are about 50 miles (80km) from the Garridos' home.
Jaycee Dugard was walking to catch a school bus from outside her home in South Lake Tahoe, close to the Nevada border, in 1991 when she was dragged into a car.
Police actions and plan.Equipment such as magnetometers and ground-penetrating radar and other search dogs trained in finding archaeological remains will be used Friday to further investigate the area. The equipment can search about 20 feet below the surface, authorities said.
Nelson said the soil on the Garrido property is sandy, making it easier to search.
Authorities are seeking clues that may tie the Garridos to the disappearances of Michaela Garecht in Hayward in 1988 and Ilene Misheloff in Dublin in 1989.
On Thursday, investigators removed 10 additional truckloads of debris from the Garrido property and a neighboring property, according Hayward police Lt. Christine Orrey. They also disassembled some tents, sheds and other structures in the back of the Garrido property and began their search of the inside of the home, which lies in an unincorporated area near Antioch.
o remove a concrete slab and hope to complete the search of the interior of the Garrido home on Friday before suspending their investigation for the weekend, Orrey said. On Wednesday, investigators discovered bones and removed three truckloads of trash, weeds and debris. Orrey said it was unknown whether the bones found Wednesday were human, and that they would require testing. She had no further information about the bones Thursday. The Garridos have been charged with kidnapping Jaycee Dugard in 1991 and hiding her in their backyard. They have pleaded not guilty. Dugard has been reunited with her family. Investigators have also removed a carport from the Garrido property. Orrey said no decision has been made on whether to raze the house.
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