Paul and Rachel Chandler freed by Somali pirates

Paul and Rachel Chandler freed by Somali pirates

www.dailymail.co.uk

The British couple freed today after being held captive by Somali pirates for more than a year today said that they were just happy to be alive.

Paul and Rachel Chandler were handed over to officials in the small town of Adado shortly after 4am. They were flown to the Somali capital Mogadishu and are now on their way to Nairobi in Kenya.

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After 388 days of captivity and frankly embarrassing complications in negotiations and hostage rescue operations, the couple are released alive.

The pirates were given ~$430,000 in June and they demanded more, I guess they got more since the total sum has now jumped to ~$1 million. Expecting a statement from the Foreign Office shortly.

Good news overall, personally I wasn't expecting them to be released alive and I'm sure that I wasn't the only one. The question being, was it the right decision to give in to the demands of a criminal gang, adding a fair sum to their coffers, funding subsequent activities and encouraging further kidnappings?

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I never think giving in to these scumbags' demands is a good idea, it just encourages more of the same. But then again the Chandlers were no friends or relatives of mine and if they were maybe I would think differently?

I can't remember where they were when they were kidnapped in the first place, was it within the 'no-go' area or outside it? If they were inside then they were daft for being there in the first place, but if the pirates got them in Kenyan or international waters then they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would've ben a horrible experience either way and I bet they are relieved to be going home.

There is the possibility that the powers that be may feel a million quid is small price to pay for potential intel they might gather about these pirates from the Chandlers.

What do you think?

reply to post by 3finjo




Image showing where the Chandlers were captured. I don’t think that they were in any strict “no-go” areas but attacks by pirates are common where they were travelling.

Maybe they could have prepared better, or not gone there at all, but hindsight is great. I guess they could have been killed in a shoot-out so taking the Rambo option might have been foolish with ++hindsight, who knows!

You raised a good point, but I'm not sure how useful the Chandlers themselves would be. If I remember correctly they were moved around blindfolded so there wouldn't be a great deal of information to hand over in that respect, they could definitely help with identifying key individuals though. I'm sure we'll get a lot more information to get our teeth into in the next few days.