"11 European tourists abducted in Egypt; $6 million in ransom reported to be demanded" by Sarah el Deeb, Associated Press | September 23, 2008
CAIRO - Kidnappers have seized 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians during a Sahara desert safari to Gilf al-Kebir, a plateau famed for its prehistoric cave paintings, Egyptian officials said yesterday.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt said in New York that group members had been freed unharmed yesterday, and a military official confirmed their release. But Egyptian officials in Cairo and New York later said they had not been freed and Aboul Gheit's announcement was based on incorrect information.
Pfft!
The five Germans, five Italians, and one Romanian were seized Friday with their Egyptian guides and drivers while camping near the Sudanese border, Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana of Egypt said. The kidnappers took the captives, including two Italians in their 70s, into Sudan, he said.
Only a few intrepid visitors make the trek of more than a week in 4X4s across the desert to the Gilf al-Kebir, which lies near Egypt's borders with Libya and Sudan beyond a vast plain of dunes known as the Great Sand Sea. It is one of the most arid places on Earth.
The plateau has become increasingly popular among adventure and eco-tourists drawn by the stark desert landscapes and the prehistoric paintings in caves that dot the plateau.
They include the "Cave of the Swimmers," immortalized in the 1996 movie "The English Patient." The cave features 10,000-year-old paintings of people swimming, a hallmark of a time when scientists believe parts of the Sahara were covered by lakes and rivers.
The unpopulated region is a crossroads for ethnic African tribesmen - including smugglers - from Libya, Sudan, and even Chad, further south.
Ismail Khairat, a spokesman for Egypt's UN mission, said the tourists have not been released. The information that Aboul Gheit relied on when he announced their release earlier "was based on primary information and it was not correct," Khairat said.
"They are not yet released so far and the government is doing their best to release them," he told the Associated Press.
Rady said the abduction was not connected to Islamic militants, who have previously attacked tourists in southern Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. "This is a criminal act. They are seeking a ransom," he said.
Garana said the tour company that organized the trip negotiated with the kidnappers, who demanded up to $6 million in ransom.
He said the German government was involved in the talks but the Egyptian government was not. Germany's Foreign Ministry said only that it had formed a "crisis team" on the abduction.
The kidnapping was discovered because the Egyptian owner of the tour company, who was on the trip, was able to call his German wife by cellphone, Garana told state television. The group included eight Egyptians, he said. It was not clear when that phone call took place.
?????
He CALLED while he was KIDNAPPED?
And how can the MSM NOT KNOW when the call came?
There are RECORDS for SUCH THINGS, and the AmeriKan government is so far up our asses with spy power... WTF?!!!!!
Italy's Foreign Ministry said the owner called his wife in Cairo again last night and told her their captors had taken the group to Sudan.
A tour guide who operates in the area said colleagues in the Western Desert told him the kidnappers were tribesmen. Mohammed Marzouk said there have been previous robberies in the area, most recently in May, when tribesmen seized two tour company sport utility vehicles during a desert trip.
Tourism is Egypt's biggest foreign currency earner. The industry was devastated in the 1990s when Islamic militants waged a campaign of violence, including attacks on tourists.
Anytime I see "Islamic militants" in the Zionist-controlled War Dailies now, I dismiss it as a god-damn lie. They have LIED about EVERYTHING, so why would they be telling the truth here?!!
Yeah, an agenda-pushing, war-promoting, Muslim-hating, Zionist War Daily wouldn't lie about anything!!
Pfffffttt!
--more--"
And CUI BONO, readers?
After the FALSE-FLAGS in Yemen and Pakistan, you think I'm buying this?
