Just got this email from a friend...

W

weloveliam@space

Active Member
...in Nicaragua :eek: :eek: :eek: He's rebuilding a site for us, and has been off the radar the last 5 days or so. Here's why :arrow:

Hi Liam, Hi Emma,


I have some not very nice news to share.
Jo and I were kidnapped by 4 people in a taxi yesterday. We had a gun point in our faces and were told we would be killed if we did not give them all our credit cards and pin numbers. We were driven around blindfolded for 3 hours, repeatedly told we'd be killed if we didn't cooperate (obviously we did and have lost a lot), then thrown out on the highway with no money, laptops, phones, cameras or any idea where we were. It was a terrible ordeal and we´ve spent the last couple of miserable days trying to sort everything out, with insurance and the banks to see what we can recover. From what I´ve heard from locals or hoteliers, we were lucky not to have been beaten up or killed. Funny they don´t put that useful information on their hotel websites.

We have a friend coming to visit next week so feel it would be unfair to leave straight away. We´re getting out of this country though, tomorrow morning we´re going to Costa Rica (a safer place) for the next couple of weeks until our friend completes her holiday. Then we´ll travel home from Costa Rica, arriving home in the UK around 4-5th November. We´re in the process of finding flights now.


I´m really sorry, I can´t finish the site till I get home to the UK, as I need specific software and server setups on the laptop to build the site. I´ve tried of thinking of ways of how I could do it from a internet cafe but I don´t think it´s possible. I was almost ready to put the site live with the membership area, email alerts, save properties etc. Damn it!.

Never thought that something like this could happen to us we´ve been so incredibly careful everywhere we´ve gone. I´m really sorry to let you both down by delaying the project.

All the best
Migs

-----------------------------------

Scary stuff hey :eek: Jo, his girlfriend (who purely by coincidence knows our very own Meryl from their time in Japan) has travelled the world, been everywhere mostly by herself. And now while working in South America nearly comes a cropper :eek: And he's worried about not finishing our site :rolleyes: :lol:
 
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**** - ignore that - just put a reply about a massive spam campaign that sounds mighty similar (the first paragraph anyway) - but this one looks legit.

Jesus - hope they're ok. :-/
 
From what I´ve heard from locals or hoteliers, we were lucky not to have been beaten up or killed. Funny they don´t put that useful information on their hotel websites.
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Your friend was not aware that kidnapping goes on all the time over there then?

A very frightening experience. Something like that could possibly haunt them for a long time to come. I hope they get over it quickly.
 
Robder said:
**** - ignore that - just put a reply about a massive spam campaign that sounds mighty similar (the first paragraph anyway) - but this one looks legit.

Jesus - hope they're ok. :-/
Click to expand...

:confused:

I know the one, we get it alot at work. Though this is obviously not.

It's scared them that much She is giving up her job with Lonely Planet to come home to blighty which they both hate with a passion.

It must have been petrifying :(
 
Warren D said:
Your friend was not aware that kidnapping goes on all the time over there then?

A very frightening experience. Something like that could possibly haunt them for a long time to come. I hope they get over it quickly.
Click to expand...

Like I mentioned she has been everywhere, she travelled all over the far east, India, Australia, Japan and much more, all by herself, so she is pretty savy. I just think their luck finallt ran out.
 
Probably a factor of the times... with the global recession and all.

I have an acquaintance who was held up at gunpoint (about 5 blocks from where I live, nonetheless) this week. She only had 3 rubles (about 6 pence) in her pocket!
 
Must be lovely people to be thinking of letting others down when they have been through such a traumatic time.
Central and South America seem to be sources of endless stories like this, really sad...
 
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I was held up at gun point in Mexico one night by a policeman but I didn't realize he had taken my cash until I got back to the hotel. He searched my front pockets by standing behind me with the gun in my back and reaching around (ooh err!). He pretended to put the money back in my pocket. Even though it was a policeman that robbed me, very few people were surprised because of the country it happened in.
 
Morbyd said:
Probably a factor of the times... with the global recession and all.

I have an acquaintance who was held up at gunpoint....
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Probably in alot of places, but I think its quite common place a tonnes more, like Nicaragua.

Scary when guns are involved, if the attacker is high or like in alot of cases has no value on life, then your life really is in their hands. Horrible. :cry:

HDR said:
Must be lovely people to be thinking of letting others down when they have been through such a traumatic time...
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They really are two of the most kind and gentle people you could meet, this could well have saved them from a worse outcome.
 
I had a similar experience happen to me in Kashmir! Not quite as violent but still threatening and scared the sh1t out of us.
 
Warren D said:
I was held up at gun point in Mexico one night by a policeman but I didn't realize he had taken my cash until I got back to the hotel. He searched my front pockets by standing behind me with the gun in my back and reaching around (ooh err!). He pretended to put the money back in my pocket. Even though it was a policeman that robbed me, very few people were surprised because of the country it happened in.
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Was it Mexico city ?

A client of mine was shot in mexico city. He was entering his apartment's car park, when he saw a flash of light, and felt a huge jolt and searing pain. They basically shot him in the chest then robbed him as he lay dying on the ground :eek:

Luckily he was found very quickly and they managed to save him. Scary stuff when they shoot forst, then rob you :eek:

jjinit said:
jeezus!!!

hopefully the mental scars will heal, luckily they were not hurt
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I think if you are mentally strong (which they are) you could pretty well get over this quite quickly. Still, an wxperience like this would make you appreciate what we take for granted ;)
 
Mate went travelling, got a plane to Columbia first leg, got out of the airport, jumped in Taxi to be faced with a handgun and a loon shouting 'de niro de niro'. Got taken for everything he had. Ouch.

Whats the site btw?
 
Yeah, it's been happening quite a bit in Central America.
I go to Guatemala often and in Guat City it's the same.
The thing is both these countries had a civil war going on for ages and ironically enough, for a general tourist, it was safer then. (Not if you were a local peasant though!)
The Guerrilla were being funded by Cuba, USSR and China and so these guys had in some way, paid jobs.
Peace accord gets signed, the funding stops, boom, everyone's out of work.
In the last 10 years kidnappings and violent crime has soared.
One of my best friends has a Outdoor/Army Surplus shop in Guat City , I stayed there last year.
The week before I got there, the guy that runs the local car park had his wife and kid taken. They wanted $10,000.

As he was a good friend, he came to my friend to ask him for a loan so he could pay the ransom. But he did not want to get the police involved in case it jeopardised their safety.
My friend (who is from the US) agreed.
But also one of his customers worked for the anti kidnapping agency of the government.
So when the guy went to pay the ransom he had the 2 security guards from his shop discreetly follow him.
Anyway, as soon as the wife and kid were free, the security guys followed the kidnappers on a motorbike. There were 4 of them in a car.
They then called the government guy and told him what was going on.
He then tried to get across town the cut them off, but got caught in traffic.
So he's on the phone to the 2 security guys with'' Can you get a good shot?'
They could. He said , ''do it...and just go, we'll sort it out''.
Three dead kidnappers in their car with one who survived just left in the rush hour traffic.
They were planning to take the 4rd one out in his hospital bed while I was there.
 
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I-Spy said:
Yeah, it's been happening quite a bit in Central America.
I go to Guatemala often and in Guat City it's the same.
The thing is both these countries had a civil war going on for ages and ironically enough, for a general tourist, it was safer then. (Not if you were a local peasant though!)
The Guerrilla were being funded by Cuba, USSR and China and so these guys had in some way, paid jobs.
Peace accord gets signed, the funding stops, boom, everyone's out of work.
In the last 10 years kidnappings and violent crime has soared.
One of my best friends has a Outdoor/Army Surplus shop in Guat City , I stayed there last year.
The week before I got there, the guy that runs the local car park had his wife and kid taken. They wanted $10,000.

As he was a good friend, he came to my friend to ask him for a loan so he could pay the ransom. But he did not want to get the police involved in case it jeopardised their safety.
My friend (who is from the US) agreed.
But also one of his customers worked for the anti kidnapping agency of the government.
So when the guy went to pay the ransom he had the 2 security guards from his shop discreetly follow him.
Anyway, as soon as the wife and kid were free, the security guys followed the kidnappers on a motorbike. There were 4 of them in a car.
They then called the government guy and told him what was going on.
He then tried to get across town the cut them off, but got caught in traffic.
So he's on the phone to the 2 security guys with'' Can you get a good shot?'
They could. He said , ''do it...and just go, we'll sort it out''.
Three dead kidnappers in there car with one who survived just left in the rush hour traffic.
They were planning to take the 4rd one out in his hospital bed while I was there.
Click to expand...

Wow. Am I allowed to ask what you do in Guatamola?
 
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