| Following the rising spate of hostage taking in the Niger Delta Region, the State Security Services (SSS) warned yesterday that it would treat people who collaborated with hostage takers as terrorists. Speaking while parading a freed expatriate oil worker of Lebanese extraction in Asaba, Director of SSS in Delta State, Mr. Adebayo Babalola said it would work in accordance with Federal Govern-ment�s declaration to the effect that hostage takers in the Niger Delta Region would henceforth be regarded as terrorists. He said with the arrest of hostage takers who kept the Lebanese, Mr. Daniel khouri, his organisation would henceforth treat the culprits as terrorists �there is a government policy now such that if you negotiate with hostage takers, you are a terrorist and we will pick you up. If you pay them, we pick you up, we have captured the terrorists and we will use them as an example�. He disclosed that the expatriate in question was kidnapped in Ahoada, Rivers State by hostage takers and brought to Delta State in the process of evading security operatives while still negotiating for the payment of ransom. The operation, he said, took the service through Bomadi and Burutu, riverine areas of the state (Delta) where they received the support and cooperation of the traditional rulers in the area and other elites before applying isolationist tactics that frustrated the militants before finally tracking them down and securing in the process the release of the hostage without any payment of ransom. The negotiators, he noted, were equally arrested in a hotel in Asaba with N4.5 million, an amount meant for the payment of ransom before the release of the hostage. In his speech, the Acting Governor of Delta State, Chief Benjamin Elue commended the security outfit for a wonderful job and noted that the Niger Delta Region was strategic to Nigeria and the world and must be protected. �Government has said all hostage takers are terrorists and we have been working with the President on that. Anybody who collaborates with hostage takers has run foul of the law. We met with the President to ensure that all the coastal areas in the Gulf of Guinea is protected. Hostage taking is against national, natural and international laws, we have to protect our investments. Hostage taking is inimical to our growth.� he said. The hostage, Mr. Khouri during an interview said he was given food, bread and peak milk by his captors but could not be allowed to take his bath throughout the two weeks in captivity. The 27-year old however, said he was beaten severally for the failure of the negotiators to produce the N50 million ransom. He, however insisted that he would continue to work in Nigeria in spite of his travails. |
Sep22006