AFRICA/EGYPT - The police free four kidnapped Copts

Minya (Agenzia Fides) - An operation carried out by the police led to the release of the four young Copts who had been kidnapped on the night of Sunday 17 and Monday, May 18 as they were returning, in a car, from a visit to the sanctuary of the Virgin Mary of Jabal al-Tair, near the city of Salamut, in the Egyptian province of Minya. Coptic sources consulted by Agenzia Fides confirm the arrest of at least two members of the gang of kidnappers. The kidnapped were kept in an isolated farmhouse, in a mountainous area not far from the site of the kidnapping, which was reached by the research carried out by the police. At the time of the police raid, which took place at dawn on Wednesday, May 20, some kidnappers managed to escape. The four kidnapped, once freed from the iron chains that held them bound, said they had suffered physical abuse and of being constantly threatened with death if their relatives did not pay the ransom demanded of 600 thousand Egyptian pounds. Three of the four kidnapped are married with children. The families thanked the police who allowed their loved ones to return home alive. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 21/05/2015)