Kenyan police and American FBI agents rescued three Americans who were held captive after being lured to Kenya with promises of lucrative business deals, police said yesterday.
One of the hostages, all three of whom were rescued on Monday, had been held captive since January. The hostages, who were chained and locked in a house, were named as Jurgen Robert Ahlaman (58), James Edward Harrel (57), and William Danny Marol (60).
Mr Marol, who was described in local media reports as a missionary, had been held captive since January, while Mr Ahlaman and Mr Harrel arrived in Kenya on April 14th. The three kidnappers demanded a $30,000 ransom.
Kenyan police and FBI agents arrested one of the alleged kidnappers on Monday when he went to the offices of a money transfer agency to collect $7,000 sent by the family of one of the hostages.
The two other suspects escaped before police and the FBI agents attached to the US embassy arrived in the house in Nairobi's South B residential estate, according to a police spokesman, Mr Dola Indidis.
The Americans had been told they were in for a bonanza if they invested $5 million in mining and fishing in Kenya and neighbouring Tanzania. The Nigerians had told the Americans that they already owned two companies - Fish Cart and Off-line - in Kenya and Tanzania. Contact was established through the Internet.
The Nigerians spent $2,600 on air tickets for the US nationals and promised them accommodation in a luxury hotel, according to the press reports.
The man arrested by police on Monday was charged in a Nairobi court yesterday with abducting three US nationals and demanding more than $5 million from them. Augustine Azubuike Nwangwa, alias Ahmed Suleiman, pleaded not guilty to all of the six charges against him.