HOSTAGE &#39;SOLD TO LESS BRUTAL GANG&#39;
564407
HOPES for Ken Bigley&#39;s freedom rose yesterday after it was claimed he had been &#39;sold&#39; to a less brutal gang of kidnappers.
261939
NEGOTIATORS claim to have secured a deal to free Annetta Flanigan, the kidnapped United Nations official, and her two colleagues in Afghanistan.
126663
It has become all too familiar: the pale, shocked face of a hostage, crumpled in fear and despair, begging Prime Minister Tony Blair to concede to the captors&#39; demands and spare another Briton from the savagery of the executioner&#39;s sword.
707634
Illegal immigrants are vulnerable and at risk from those offering help Italian police say they have broken up a gang suspected of kidnapping illegal immigrants and holding them for ransom.Comment
375665
Several snags including over a ransom have held up the handing over of British hostage Kenneth Bigley to another group in Iraq, said an editor of a Kuwaiti newspaper, citing Iraq militant sources.
382561
Iraqi kidnappers may have sold two Italian women hostages to militants tied to Al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Deputy Iraqi Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati has been quoted as saying.
224685
The kidnappers of Margaret Hassan have threatened to hand her over to Ken Bigley&#39;s killers if their demands are not met within 48 hours.
432790
BELFAST, Dec. 21 -- Thieves took hostage the families of two top bankers and forced the officials to help them steal more than $39 million from the vaults of a Belfast bank&#39;s main office, authorities said Tuesday.
314420
The brother of Iraq hostage Ken Bigley says he has heard the Briton has been handed over to another group.
170654
A gang held the families of two Northern Ireland bank officials hostage for 24 hours before stealing about 20 million pounds (&#36;39 million) in one of Britain's biggest robberies, police said on Tuesday.
479113
Fears mount of bloody end to standoff in which armed robbers hold 30 hostages
355584
LONDON, Oct 4  British Iraq hostage Kenneth Bigley may have been handed over to a new group, his brother Paul said today.
334255
Iraqi insurgents who claim to be holding two French journalists in Iraq demanded a $5 million (Â£2.8 million) ransom yesterday as part of a disturbing set of new conditions for their release.
145131
The British Treasury said it would facilitate a sale of the troubled mortgage lender while trying to ensure that taxpayers will not have to pay for the bankâs rescue.
354086
A delegation of senior British Muslims left for Baghdad on Friday night to plead for the life of the British hostage Kenneth Bigley, who it is now claimed was sold by his kidnappers to an Al-Qaeda outfit for almost Â£150,000.
7465
The Northern Bank robbers got away with more than the Â£26.5m police said was taken in the raid, one of the bank hostages has said.
721352
Militants who claim to be holding a Northern Ireland woman and two others hostage in Afghanistan have said they are suffering the effects of the cold and a poor diet.