Times Online December 21, 2005 British hostage freed in dramatic rescue By Simon Freeman and agencies http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1952065,00.html A British man taken hostage by bogus estate agents in Bulgaria was recovering in hospital today after being freed from four days in captivity. At least one of Christou Phanos's captors was shot dead by police who stormed the kidnappers' hideout 15 miles north of the capital, Sofia. Two other men were arrested during the raid, which followed a three-day siege by armed police. Mr Phanos, 59, arrived in Bulgaria on December 15 after being lured into an elaborate house-buying sting. He was met by his contact, Iranian national Ali Deni, at the airport and expected to be shown around a portfolio of properties. Instead, he was forced into a car and driven to the remote villa on the outskirts of Vlado Trichkov. Three days later, the kidnappers issued a demand for a £44,000, threatening to kill their hostage if the ransom was not paid. Mr Phanos, a Greek Cypriot, had been badly treated and although police would not divulge details, a hospital spokesman said that he was in a "grave physical and psychological condition." General Vanyo Tanov, the head of the police's anti-organised crime unit, told a press conference that one of the kidnappers, Hari Milkovski, opened fire when police raided the house. He was killed by marksmen. He said that Atanas Galchev, a Bulgarian, and Mr Phanos' original contact Mr Deni -were now being questioned in custody. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said that Scotland Yard had been informed of the situation on Sunday and had sent two officers to Sofia. "Two officers were sent to act in a liaison capacity. Bulgarian police retained operational control at all times," she said. This is the first disclosure Bulgaria has made about a hostage being taken and released. The European Union, which it hopes to join in 2007, has often criticised the former communist states fight against its network of organised criminal. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> AIDS in India: A "lurking bomb." Click and help stop AIDS now. http://us.click.yahoo.com/X6CDDD/lzNLAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
