Monday 28 August saw the young Minya Copt Tony Samir Habib Hanna, born 1989, back home following a week in captivity after being kidnapped for ransom.
Hanna, who comes from Samalout, Minya, some 250km south of Cairo, and whose kidnappers demanded EGP3 million to set him free, was ransomed with EGP800,000 paid by his parents.
A cousin of Hanna told Watani that, once the ransom sum was agreed upon, Tony Hanna’s brother left town and, following instructions from the kidnappers, drove on for more than two hours through a complicated roundabout way until he handed over the ransom sum and his brother was accordingly set free.
Both brothers headed to the police station to give their testimony about the kidnap/ransom incident. The police were able to define the spot in which Tony had been held, in a tent on the mountainside on the east of Minya. They said they had not wished to disturb the handover process lest it threatens Tony’s life. So they waited, but were able to shoot the scene on camera, and to identify one of the kidnappers and film the captors’ vehicle as it drove off. The police believe these clues can lead to the entire kidnap cell, and promise the criminals will be caught soon.
