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General News on Friday, June 14, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-06-14
Lauren Tilley, on the left, and Bailey Chitty
A former Canadian ambbadador described as unusual Ghana's efforts to save the two Canadian women who were kidnapped in Kumasi last week. Gar Pardy, who has participated in more than 100 kidnapping talks around the world, said the two University of New Brunswick students were "extremely lucky" to have been rescued by police agencies. Ghanaian security.
"These kidnappings can take weeks, months, even years, and in some cases even cases," said Mr. Pardy, who was also Director General of Consular Affairs for 11 years.
Lauren Tilley, 19, of Rothesay, and Bailey Chitty, 20, of Amherst, NS, volunteered for the non-governmental organization Youth Challenge International, known as YCI, when they were kidnapped at the golf club Royal Kumasi on June 4th.
Eight days later, the two women were saved during a police raid.
"It was incredibly good," he said. "It does not happen very often in this kind of situation," said Pardy.
Gar Pardy, former Director General of Consular Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs
Canada does not pay ransom
According to Mr. Pardy, travelers are kidnapped for political or criminal purposes – and always involve a ransom demand.
The people who kidnapped the two UNB students did not ask for ransom, but Pardy responded that it was only a matter of time.
"There would have been a ransom," he said.
Although the Government of Canada does not pay ransom, Mr. Pardy said that some countries do, including Germany, Italy, the United States and South Korea.
According to Mr. Pardy, countries that pay ransom have paid millions of dollars to recover their victims, especially after long detention.
"The policy itself is not effective in terms of preventing kidnappings or even solving kidnappings," he said.
Meanwhile, Lauren and Bailey have arrived in Canada. They left Ghana last Wednesday evening on British Airways BA78 flight to Heathrow Airport in London, UK.
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