Spanish police travel to Nigeria to help secure kidnapped schoolgirls' release
Wednesday, May 14, 2014 @ 11:10 AM
SPAIN'S offer of help in the search and release of the 223 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by a radical Islamic group has been welcomed by the government of the African country.
Four members of the Spanish police force's specialist kidnap and ransom squad, at the instigation of the ministry of foreign affairs, will be travelling to Nigeria in the next few days.
All of them are highly experienced in abductions involving highly sensitive negotiations, in human trafficking and in dealing with Islamic sects and hostage-taking networks based in African countries.
Spain's kidnap release record is exceptional, with numerous successful cases of the country's citizens being freed unharmed from captivity abroad through careful contact and top-secret dealings, with recent high-profile cases being reported in Western Sahara, Somalia, Mali and Colombia, including that of the daughter of well-known High Court judge Fernando Marlaska.
The girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, in the northern state of Borno on April 14 by the extremist group Boko Haram, whose name in the local housa language means 'Western education is forbidden'.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com