Saving A Friend From Kidnappers 101

As you may or may not be aware, Nigel Brennan (an Aussie) and Amanda Lindhout (a Canadian) were recently released from the clutches of evil Somalian kidnappers a few weeks ago after being held hostage for over a year. After very public pleas for help to the Australian Govt - which appear to have not been forthcoming given the Australian Govt's policy of not negotiating with crazed kidnappers - the Brennan family turned to a professional hostage negotiator to free their son. And free them he did! After just 90 days (compared to the Australian Govt's inactivity for 340 days). And lucky he did it in 1/3rd of the time, because this dude costs $3,000 per day! So he earned $270,000 for one job. And I bet he lives in the Bahamas for tax purposes.


[Please note: I am not criticising the Aust Govt. Can totally understand why they have the policies they do.]

Some interesting, complicating factors Mr Rich Hostage Negotiator had to contend with:

1. The Australian Govt did not hand over any information to him. Annoying! I would want to kick someone's head in for that.

2. The original kidnappers were dead because they had died in the fighting that was going on in Mogadishu. These bad-asses were certainly very active! And dead. So not very active any longer. Makes you wonder what the point of all that kidnapping is if you're just going to kark it mid-way through getting your pay out, doesn't it? Anyway. A bunch of teenagers had inherited the hostages, so negotiating with them was a little different. I imagine those hormones and random no-talking that teenagers are famous for would have been a pain in the ass for Mr Rich Hostage Negotiator man (real name John Chase).

You may also be pleased to note that if ever someone you know is kidnapped that if they ask for $2.5 million, you statistically will only have to pay about 10% of the hostage-takers' original asking price. Bargain!

The key lesson today is that if someone kidnaps your friend/brother/favourite chef at the fish & chips shop you should call a professional hostage negotiator. There are only 30 in this world. Also - if you plan on going to places where they like to kidnap people (Somalia, Latin America etc) then you may wish to ensure travellers to those areas have kidnap insurance. It exists. The amount paid to ransoms from piracy alone since January 2008 to about February 2009 was between US$50-US$80 million. That is a ridiculous amount of money. That would feed a lot of starving people who don't kidnap to get their McDonalds.


Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout (both freelance journalists) were kidnapped just 4 days after arriving in Somalia, and were released just over a year later. Dick Smith (geek entrepreneur in Australia - by all acounts a very philanthropic and wonderful man), Senator Bob Brown (mad greenie with strong ideals) and others assisted the Brennan family pay the $500,000 fee for Nigel's release. They also called for the Australian Government to change the manner in which they handle hostage situations.

Dick Smith wrote to the govt saying they should adopt a "completely different plan" for future cases.

"The British Government ... instantly say to any family, 'Here are the names of the three security companies which have expertise in that, and then you should deal with the company.' Now that's what the Australian Government should have done."


Good advice. So. Now you know. Upon kidnapping, call professional hostage negotiator + Dick Smith. Do not go to the Govt, but try to grab $200,000 on the way to jail. You'll need it.