Negotiator says captors realise yacht couple are not rich and could reduce their £4.26m ransom
Somali pirates ‘may free abducted Britons for £100,000’
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Kidnapped Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler may be freed for much less than the £4.26million ransom demand, a negotiator said yesterday.
Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African seafarers’ assistance programme, said he was working with Somali elders to help free the Chandlers.
The pirates have been persuaded the couple were not rich and might release them for £100,000, he said.
Mr Mwangura said: “The pirates realise now that the Chandlers are not rich people. They will be persuaded to lower their demand, maybe to £100,000.”
In a phone call taken by the BBC on Friday night, one of the pirates was reported as saying: “If they do not harm us, we will not harm them – we only need a little amount of $7million (£4.26million).”
The Foreign Office said Britain would make no “substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes payment of ransom”.,
Mr Chandler, 59, and his 55-year-old wife, of Kent, were captured on October 23 when armed men boarded their yacht as they sailed from the Seychelles to Tanzania.
Friday night’s caller said the amount would cover damage caused by Nato.
He said: “Nato operations have had a lot of negative impact here, they have destroyed a lot of equipment belonging to the poor local fishermen.
“They arrest fishermen and destroy their equipment. They illegally transfer the fishermen to their own prisons, so when you consider the damage and all the people affected, we say the amount is not big.”
Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, made a direct appeal to the pirates to release the couple.
He said: “My sister and her husband are blameless tourists and if you release them it would show your compassionate nature.”
The Philippine government has rejected a £1.2million ransom demanded by the kidnappers of an ailing Irish priest in the country’s volatile south and said efforts would continue to secure his freedom.
The kidnappers of the Rev Michael Sinnott, 79, have released a video in which he says his captors are demanding the money in exchange for his freedom.
The video, broadcast on TV on Saturday, sparked hope among his fellow missionaries after rumours had circulated that he had died while in jungle captivity.
It shows Mr Sinnott holding a copy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated October 22, 11 days after six gunmen snatched him.
A spokesman for Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the government would “stick to the policy of paying no ransom”.
