For freeing of the French journalists Florence Aubenas and her guide from the Iraqi captivity, 6 million US dollars were paid, a French journalist states. He has also found out that the French secret services know the names of the kidnappers of the French journalists. They know all there is to know about them: mobile phone numbers, locations, pictures.
Shocking news in an interview from the monthly Afrique Magazine. Their holder is a French journalist, Roger Auque, who was himself and hostage in Lebanon. He agreed to be the interviewee of the issue for August and September.
RANSOM According to Auque, for the freeing of Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun, 6 million US dollars were paid, which contradicts the French authorities that said no money have been paid for the freeing of the two after 157 days of captivity.
THE KIDNAPPERSâ STRATEGY "The kidnappers never ask for money from the beginning", Auque emphasizes. "They prefer saying they form a political or religious group. Then, they suggest they need money for their big costs and that they would need some support. Therefore, a sum of money is proposed", the French journalist says in the interview for Afrique Magazine, taken over by AFP.
PAST EXAMPLES He also states that, for the freeing of some other two French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, from Iraq, "money were involved, less than" in the case of Aubenas.
Roger also knows the sum of money for his freeing from Lebanon: two million US dollars, "a great sum for those times", in his opinion.
IDENTIFIED The journalist says that, "in the cases of Georges Malbrunot, Christian Chesnot and Aubenas", the French secret services "identified the kidnappers and their location". Moreover, he says that "in the basements from Paris of the GDES (General Direction for the External Security) the kidnappersâ mobile phone
