Family of Aussie hostage pays ransom for his release
Source: AFP |
March 25, 2013, Monday
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THE family of an Australian held hostage for 15 months in the southern Philippines paid Islamic militants almost US$100,000 in ransom, a negotiator said, after Warren Rodwell waded to freedom.
Al Rashid Sakalahul, vice governor of the strife-torn island province of Basilan, said late Saturday he had negotiated Rodwell's release with a feared leader of an extremist group known for beheading his victims.
The weak and emaciated 54-year-old former soldier was released on Saturday off Pagadian, a port city on Mindanao island some 100 kilometers east of where he was kidnapped on December 5, 2011.
Police quoted Rodwell as saying he was left in a boat by his captors in waters between Basilan and Pagadian and told to row to safety. But the tide was out and Rodwell had to wade through the mud to reach the shore.
Wharf supervisor Nathaniel Campos said he spotted the soaked and mud-splattered Australian as he waded ashore in darkness, and asked him if he was a tourist.
"No, I'm not a tourist. I am a kidnap victim. Please help me!" Rodwell reportedly replied.
The ransom was substantially less than the US$2 million the kidnappers, members of the Abu Sayyaf militant group, initially demanded after they broke into the house Rodwell shared with his Filipina wife in the town of Ipil.
Sakalahul said he got them to reduce the sum to 4 million pesos (US$97,750).
"It was really a tough negotiation but in the end, with God's help, we managed to secure the release of Rodwell," he told reporters.
Sakalahul said he came forward to deny speculation in Manila that "middlemen" had pocketed some of the ransom.
He said the negotiations were conducted with an emissary of Puruji Indama, an Abu Sayyaf commander in Basilan notorious for beheading and mutilating victims.
Al Rashid Sakalahul, vice governor of the strife-torn island province of Basilan, said late Saturday he had negotiated Rodwell's release with a feared leader of an extremist group known for beheading his victims.
The weak and emaciated 54-year-old former soldier was released on Saturday off Pagadian, a port city on Mindanao island some 100 kilometers east of where he was kidnapped on December 5, 2011.
Police quoted Rodwell as saying he was left in a boat by his captors in waters between Basilan and Pagadian and told to row to safety. But the tide was out and Rodwell had to wade through the mud to reach the shore.
Wharf supervisor Nathaniel Campos said he spotted the soaked and mud-splattered Australian as he waded ashore in darkness, and asked him if he was a tourist.
"No, I'm not a tourist. I am a kidnap victim. Please help me!" Rodwell reportedly replied.
The ransom was substantially less than the US$2 million the kidnappers, members of the Abu Sayyaf militant group, initially demanded after they broke into the house Rodwell shared with his Filipina wife in the town of Ipil.
Sakalahul said he got them to reduce the sum to 4 million pesos (US$97,750).
"It was really a tough negotiation but in the end, with God's help, we managed to secure the release of Rodwell," he told reporters.
Sakalahul said he came forward to deny speculation in Manila that "middlemen" had pocketed some of the ransom.
He said the negotiations were conducted with an emissary of Puruji Indama, an Abu Sayyaf commander in Basilan notorious for beheading and mutilating victims.
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