2 kidnapping suspects in custody

SANA'A, April 22 (Saba) - Two suspected kidnappers believed to be
part in the kidnapping of a Dutch couple early this month have been
arrested.

Minister of Information, who is also the official spokesman for the
government, Hassan al-Lawzi said one of the two was arrested by the
police while the second was handed over to the authorities.

Al-Lawzi, however, did not say who handed over the kidnapping
suspect.

On April 1, 3 tribesmen from the Bany Dhabyan tribe in Khawlan
district, Sana'a, a tribe known for kidnapping foreigners, took a
Dutch expert along with his wife as hostage.

The couple was abducted in Sana'a and snatched to a mountainous area
outside the capital.

They remained hostage for two weeks.

But later, the Yemeni authorities reached agreement with the
kidnappers and released the two foreigners unharmed.

The kidnapping was the third so far this year after a German family
was kidnapped and a South African mother was taken hostage along
with her sons two in separate kidnappings in January.

The first kidnapping took place in Sana'a by tribesmen from the same
tribe from which the kidnappers of the Dutch couple come. The second
occurred in Shabwa, almost a week after the first abduction.

But the foreigners were freed days later unhurt.

Foreigner kidnappings in Yemen declined in recent years and they are
always aimed to pressure the authorities to provide better services
and improve bad living conditions.

FR