2 Columbian Hostages
The third kidnapping in 2008.
It would be nice to have some stats on how many Yemenis a year get kidnapped.
Yemen cracks down to free two Colombian hostages
[20 September 2008]
ABYAN, Sep. 20 (Saba)- Security sources said on Saturday that the security committee of Abyan province held a meeting to conduct security crackdowns for the release of two Colombian oil experts who were kidnapped on Friday by tribal gunmen.
The sources added that the two Colombian oil experts, working with the Yemeni Liquefied Natural Gas Company, were kidnapped on Friday while they were on their way to the pipelines, in Balhaf, Shabwa province.
Well-informed sources said the two Colombian oil experts, along with two Yemenis, were kidnapped in the Shabwa province, east of Yemen. The hostages were identified as Hector Marin, Rafael Abala, Basheer Al Sulwi, the driver, and Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Gani.
Primary investigations revealed the kidnappers were from the Ba Kazem tribe in Shabwa province. The kidnappers drove off in the car of the kidnapped experts, leaving their car at the spot where the kidnapping occurred.
According to a local statistics, Yemen has witnessed about 134 kidnappings, which included about 325 Europeans and 25 Americans, between 1990 and 2005.
Around 80 per cent of these abductions took place in the provinces of Sana’a, Amran, Mareb, Sa’ada and Shabwa.
