ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) — Nigerian forces have killed 78 gunmen, known locally as bandits, during military operations including air strikes in northwestern Zamfara state, the air force said. Heavily-armed bandits have wracked northwest and central Nigeria for years, but the groups have recently stepped up attacks on schools, kidnapping hundreds of students for ransom and prompting a military response. “On 2 August 2021, Nigerian Air Force… locked on armed bandits on bikes moving into Kwiambana […]
Tag: kidnapping
QC court finds 8 men–including two former police officers—guilty of kidnapping Filipino-Chinese trader 17 years ago
(Eagle News) — Eight men–including two former police officers—were found guilty of kidnapping a Filipino-Chinese trader in Manila on Friday, 17 years after the crime was committed, while two others were acquitted. Judge Ma. Luisa Gonzalez-Betic of the Regional Trial Court Branch 225 of Quezon City convicted Romeo Ayson, Clayton Patingan, Alberto Culanag, Romeo Aruta, Jose Olbato, Jaime Tolevas, Edwin Castillo, and Sebastian Magaipo of kidnapping Genevive Sy in 2004 and sentenced them to suffer […]
Pirates seize 4 Koreans, 1 Filipino crew off Benin
ACCRA, Ghana (AFP) — Pirates kidnapped four Koreans and one Filipino crew member from a tuna-fishing vessel close to Benin in the Gulf of Guinea earlier this week, Ghanaian police said. The Gulf of Guinea, a key shipping route extending from Senegal to Angola, accounted for the vast majority of maritime crew abductions last year, with pirates targeting commercial vessels. The Ghana-registered boat was attacked on Tuesday although the Ghana navy recovered the vessel and […]
Abducted Taiwanese national rescued in Parañaque City
(Eagle News) — The police on Tuesday, March 2, rescued an abducted Taiwanese national in Parañaque City. A Philippine National Police statement said Wu Keng Hao was rescued by members of the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group at Pearl Marina, in Building 28 Floor Unit 24. The PNP said the rescue operations, which were prompted by a kidnapping report, took place at 9:30 a.m. They were done in coordination with the establishment’s security personnel. “During the rescue, […]
Freed UK hostage and wife say they were chained, threatened by Abu Sayyaf while in captivity
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) — A British man and his wife rescued this week from Islamist captors in the Philippines’ south say they were chained and threatened with beheading if they didn’t deliver a ransom. The couple, shaken but unharmed, told their nearly two-month ordeal to reporters after escaping during a firefight Monday between Philippine troops and the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group. The husband, named by British authorities as Alan Hyrons, painted a “very […]
Philippines rescues British man, wife held by jihadists
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — MANILA, Philippines (AFP) Philippine soldiers on Monday rescued a British man and his wife from Islamic State-linked jihadists nearly two months after the couple were kidnapped from their beach resort in the nation’s south, authorities said. Troops recovered the pair after a firefight with gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf group on the restive southern island of Jolo, which is a stronghold of the kidnap-for-ransom gang that has been behind some […]
Trillanes faces businesswoman who accused him of kidnapping and serious illegal detention at DOJ hearing
(Eagle News) – Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV came face to face with the woman who had filed charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention against him before the Department of Justice on Friday, Oct. 11. Davao del Norte businesswoman Guillermina Barrido swore before the DOJ, during the case’s preliminary investigation, and maintained that Trillanes and his group, including lawyer Jude Sabio and a priest, detained her for 14 days in December 2016 while […]
Dutch birdwatcher held by Abu Sayyaf rebels killed by captor in Philippines during firefight, says military
by Cecil MORELLA Agence France Presse A Dutch birdwatcher held by Islamic State-linked militants was killed Friday during a firefight between his kidnappers and soldiers in the southern Philippines, according to the military, which said he was shot by his captors as he tried to escape. Ewold Horn had been held since 2012 by the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and was fatally wounded as soldiers fought a 90-minute gun battle with the jihadists on […]
19 migrants kidnapped from bus in Mexico: president
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Nineteen passengers who were kidnapped from a bus last week in northern Mexico were migrants, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday, as investigators worked through the murky details of the case. The men were crossing the violent state of Tamaulipas, on the US-Mexican border, on Thursday when four vehicles blocked the road and forced their bus to stop, according to authorities. Armed men then boarded the coach and kidnapped […]
Palace says gov’t exerting all efforts to secure release of Abu Sayyaf hostages; stands firm on no-ransom policy
(Eagle News)–The Palace on Friday, Feb. 22, gave the assurance the government was doing all that it could to secure the release of the Malaysian and Indonesian hostages of the Abu Sayyaf. In a statement issued after videos circulating online showed alleged Abu Sayyaf members threatening to behead the hostages, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo reiterated, however, the government’s no-ransom policy. “To give in to the demands of terrorists and other lawless groups would embolden them […]
Wife of Norwegian millionaire missing, ransom demanded: reports
OSLO, Norway (AFP) — The wife of a Norwegian multi-millionaire missing for 10 weeks is believed to have been kidnapped and a large ransom has been demanded for her release, local media reported on Wednesday. Married to a businessman who made his fortune in real estate and the energy sector, 68-year-old Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik disappeared on October 31, the Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper said. A ransom demand for nine million euros ($10.3 million) in cryptocurrency […]
Gunmen kidnap Italian woman in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — An armed gang abducted an Italian woman from a village in southeast Kenya, shooting and wounding five residents in the raid, police said Wednesday. “The attackers fired indiscriminately at residents” before kidnapping the 23-year-old, who worked as a volunteer at an orphanage, during the attack after dark on Tuesday evening at Chakama, a small village in the coastal Kilifi county, police said in a statement. Three children were among those injured, […]
