| The gendarmes spoke with two of the hostages released on Saturday in the commune of Ambakireny Tsaratanàna. |
Four men spent sixteen days in the hands of eleven heavily armed kidnappers before finding freedom in the Anjozorobe district. Their families paid ransoms.
Back home. Four fathers finally freed themselves from their ordeal, Saturday at 9 a.m., in the Anjozorobe district. They had been held for sixteen days by kidnappers.
They do not know the exact location where they were released, but precise information confirms that when leaving the Tsaratanàna district, the criminals had taken them across the Betsiboka River. The gendarmes therefore assume that they were abandoned around Amboniakondro, in Anjozorobe.
Two of them, brothers aged 39 and 40, presented themselves, Sunday morning at 8 a.m., to the gendarmes stationed at the Antsampanan'i Betenina security checkpoint, in the commune of Ambakireny. They live in the same constituency. The other two victims, one of whom is 60 years old, went directly to their homes, in Andranomisa Anjozorobe and Antevamarina Tsaratanàna, after their release.
On November 7, while the four villagers were in Antevamarina, criminals armed with war and hunting rifles kidnapped them at 7:45 p.m. From then on, the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) intensified their searches, without much success.
Reluctant
The investigation was entrusted to the Brieville Brigade. The gendarmes stressed that the victims' families were reluctant to collaborate, which could have accelerated the investigation and led to positive results.
They would have been threatened by the kidnappers and preferred not to involve the FDS. They kept all communications to themselves and did not disclose anything, even regarding the amount or total ransoms paid, according to the gendarmerie. The judicial team will try to collect all these details during its investigation, by hearing again from the victims and their relatives.
The two hostages have already confessed that they don't even know their kidnappers, despite having seen them. This recent case of kidnapping means that the kidnappers continue to act and mock the operation launched by the Army, the Gendarmerie and the Police, particularly in Anjozorobe.
Gustave Mparany
