We'd like to acknowledge that traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast was produced, the Galliger people of the Orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. This episode contains discussions of sexual assault. If this raises any issues for you, support is available through the links and phone numbers in the show notes.
Today we're in Somalia. It's two thousand and eight, and after the country's brutal long time dictator was overthrown seventeen years ago, a bloody civil war has raged on, with so many groups vying for control, the emergence of extremist groups like Auschebab, and a surge in piracy. It's a very dangerous place to be, but for photojournalist Nigel Brennan is exactly where he feels he needs to be. He's
here to show the world the unfolding humanitarian crisis. The plan is to stay for seven days, but on the fourth day plan changes dramatically. Nigel and his colleague and Mandolinhaut are dragged out of their vehicle at gunpoint by masked men who plan to keep them hostage. There are only two ways out of this. Either a three million dollar ransom from a government whose policy is not to pay or escape from a lockdown house guarded by masked men clutching AK forty seven's in the middle of one
of the world's most dangerous countries. I'm Att Middleton. This is head Game Today, the ultimate lesson in resilience, strength and survival. Nigel Brennan, great to have you on my podcast. Thanks for coming. Now, you're a photo journalist. What do you do on a day.
To day A fado journalist obviously someone that works in the media. I sort of started out in regional newspapers and then went into freelance. So I guess as a freelance phato let's trying to cover stories that I thought were important and wanted to, I guess share with the wider world of what was going on in particularly in countries overseas.
You turned this hobby into a career and then you find yourself being called to go to Somalia. Take me back to that day when someone, when whoever, your boss, whoever it was, said to you, right, you're going too smiley. How did you feel, what was the job role? And did you take it straight away?
So I got a phone call from Amanda who at that stage was working for Presstvay in Iran. So she said, look, I'm thinking about doing a trip into Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Would you be interested in coming along? And for me it was I guess that that first thing for me was like new Obviously Kenya and Ethiopia fell yourself. Somali was a different kettle of fish. But I also had that thing of like I'd wanted to go into war zone or a conflict area, like a country that was
dangerous and photograph and tell stories. And I guess when Aman sort of put that to me, it was just like, well, am I going to do this?
Or am I just going to be a dramer?
And I thought, well, you feel like you had to earn your stripes.
I've been trying to get into Afghanistan, and I think as a freelancer was incredibly difficult to try and get em bettered and those sorts of things.
And then probably it's probably safer to go into Afghanistan, absolutely with the top cover that you'd have, yes, then it would be to Somalia. Well I can tell you that because I've been to both. But I mean hindsight, hindsight is a great thing, but probably probably a lot better going into Afghanistan because going into Somalia sort of just as a freelancer, Oh, it takes some balls.
It does take some balls.
Look, I think in hindsight as well, you know, looking back, and it was like probably a little bit grain, a little bit naive, because I think at that stage Somali was the third most dangerous country in the world. As you said, like Afghanistan, you had US forces and UK forces and you basically had people there that could help. In Somalia it was there was no like you had eight organizations, but there was absolutely no white or Western personnel there. So it was an incredible risk to take,
you know. And the plan was a seven day sort of jaunt in and out because we knew after seven days it would be too risky.
Seven days in total without the three countries, or seven days only for.
Smiling, seven days only for Somalia's.
Still quite long. Yeah, after twenty four to forty eight hours, people start sniffing.
Around absolutely, And look, I guess as well, as a journalist, you know, you work out who your fix is going to be in country. And we had someone recommended who was also working with National geographic journals that were in the country at the same time, and we hired security. We had an interpret to those sorts of things. Again, probably not enough security, but as I said, as freelancers, you know, that's all we could afford was a certain
amount of security. And there's also that ethical thing I think for journalists too, like driving around in cars and more torn eras, do you want to have weapons in your vehicle? Like you know, you're meant to be neutral and having a gun in your car is well, hang on, you're not really neutral anymore, you're taking aside.
So so you start off where you start off in Kenya.
Start off in Kenya. So in n Airabi organized visas to get into Sonario. So I actually have to forge document. So my brother's best mate had a I guess it was a publication in Brisbane magazine. So I basically ripped his logo off and made a letter up and signed it under Carl's name and gave that to the Somalian embassy and got the visa and then went flew from Nairobi into Moga Disher. I'm one of the dodgiest planes I've ever been, Like, I'm surprised it actually took off
and landed. Oh yeah, I like seats sort of going back and forwards, and the chickens and goats and it's just like what is this. I think people might have even been smoking on the plane, which you know, I can remember sitting on the plane and there was an Italian aid worker who was going through to Somali land and he said, what are you two doing here? And we're like, we're going to Mogadisha and he's like serious,
and so yeah, we're journalists and he's like okay. He said, you know, your head's worth a million dollars that's not attached to your body. And I think that's probably the you know, I knew Mogadishu was going to be dangerous, and I knew there was potential for kidnap, but I never thought that I would end up being kidnapped in a country. But I guess that's probably where, you know, things start to pucker up a little bit and it's just like, okay, this is you know, we're flying into
sort of I guess, alien territory. And it wasn't until we started descend into Mogadishu and you're looking out the window and you can see basically just whatever a decade's worth of internal conflict and you know, buildings that were just decimated, and Mogadishu, which they said was the Paris of Africa, you know, getting to eventually landing at Mogadishu Airport and getting off the plane and getting into the carousel and just saying it was complete pandemonium and mayhem,
and you know there's security there that are beating people with sticks to get them away from the luggage carousel.
And a bit of a reality check.
Oh it was.
It was like I felt like a complete alien. It was just like I should not be.
Here this this Oh as soon as you landed, you thought it wasn't.
I just I felt completely out.
Of my comfort zone. What are you hoping to capture? You know, why did you go there in the first place? What was there? What was the task or what was the mission?
I think for Amanda and I, the task was like the humanitarian crisis that was going on. There was a famine that was about to hit the country again, and for us, we wanted to try and capture some of the the fighting between al Chabob and the African Union Forces.
So I guess again, as a green, young journalist. It was like, you know, I want to get out to the front lines and capture some of what's going on to because by that stage, you know, Somali was sort of a country that was forgotten about, I guess after black Hawk Down and those sorts of things which everyone's aware of, it really sort of fell out of the media cycle, and particularly for us. One of the interesting stories was how food aid is brought into the country.
So you know, food aid from America and Australia and Canada is handed over to a third party who basically has to pay for that food aid, Like he has to hand over money for it, and he doesn't get paid until he delivers it to the destination where it's got to go to. And it's like that's a lot of risk for one person, and then you've got als
chabob that raiding those sorts of things. So we wanted to sort of see how, you know, food aid from western countries is actually dispersed and does it actually get to where it is and how corrupt is that that whole sort of experience for for the middleman.
Really, like that was the mission to capture to capture the year.
Yeah, the day we left the day we were actually kidnapped, we were heading out of Mogadishu. So, you know, everyone said in Mogadishu had was relatively safe. I think it was like eight square blocks around Villa Somalia, which is where the president palaces and was controlled by African Union forces. They said outside of that, it's sort of militia run areas.
But the day we were kidnapped, we were traveling to Afkgoya, which is I think forty k's outside of Mogadishu, and there were five internally displaced camps there, so I think there was about seven hundred thousand people that had been displaced from Mogadisha because of the fighting, living in those five camps.
So you land, do your security travel with you or did they meet you at the airport with a fixer? You by yourself and you've got to meet the security team and the fixer or you traveling with them.
No, So we meet the security team once we land in Mogadishu. So we meet Abdi who it becomes our subfixer. I guess, so he speaks English. We also meet a driver and our security detail. First impressions, Abdi was like really nice, great English, felt sort of quite secure. I
guess that, knowing that we had security as well. Again, I think you know the reality check of As we're leaving the airport with our bags, there's quite a high ranking officer from the African Union forces that are in country and he's like, what are you guys doing here? Explained to him, you know that we're journalists. And then we're here for seven days and he gives us a number. It says, if you get in trouble, give us a call.
Yeah, you leave the airport, how many days are you in country until you're obviously you get that knock on the door and your whole world turns upside down.
So we spend the first three days basically connecting with I guess people, trying to get access to hospitals.
And that's what's about, isn't It's just getting access, talking with fixers, trying to get interviews with people, and outside of your control, right, because you've got to rely on other people to get you into these locations, right.
Yeah, So we're completely reliant on a juice who's the main fixer. We explained to him, what, you know, what we want to do on the stories that we want to cover, and you know obviously saying to him, we want to get out to the front line and sort of see the fighting between al Shabab and the African Union forces. He's not a chance, not going to happen. Where like, we want to go to Bakara Market, which is a really famous market in Somalia, and they have a part of that market is a gun market.
Again, he said, that's not going to happen.
And knocking you back.
So that's really frustrating. So we end up, like we get to a couple of feeding stations where you know there's thousands of people obviously waiting for food aid that sort of stuff. I think one of those locations, I think about half an hour after we leave, there's a mortar attack. So then we then go to one of the main hospitals in Mogadish, which you know, by the standards of western countries is it looks just how can I explain this, uh, pretty.
Shabby.
Yeah, like you know, very limited resources, doctors run off their feet, you know, lots of flies around, lots of infection, those sorts of things.
Yeah, and lack of doors, lack of windows.
Yeah, absolutely, and you know you're in a hospital where there's fighting around and those sorts of things as well. So yeah, we get we managed to get three days, get out with African Union forces I think on the third day, which was interesting as well to spend a bit of time with them, and you know, I think they're probably just as terrified as we are.
And to be fair, knowing the African forces, they're not the most capable or the best trains trained, and of everything that they the lack of resources that they have as well the lack of training. Yes, so there you're on the back foot already.
Yeah, so yeah, we managed to get three days of shooting in and you know, I guess trying to create some stories and aligning some stuff up for the next four days. And then obviously day four we'd organized with a juice to travel outside of Mogadishu to Afgoya, to the smallest IDP camp we wanted to go and visit. So there was something like five US fifty to sixty thousand people in that camp. To give you, I guess
an overview, there's no running water, there's no electricity. We'd heard that during the night Al Shabob were doing raids into these camps and basically raping women there was a small I guess hospital in this smaller camp with a woman that was running it. We wanted to go and basically photograph her and see what she was doing. So we'd organized this with a juice the day before he said because we were leaving, mogad Isshu said, you're going to need extra security detail because you are now going
into a complete militia run area. So we'd organized extra security detail for that day and we'd planned to leave after the National Geographic guys that were staying in the hotel with So there were four journalists and you know, we're split into teams. They were heading past half guys, so we were leaving after.
Them in the morning.
So, yeah, wake up on the morning of the fourth day feeling fairly nervous.
And security's bumped up. You're feeling nervous. You're just going outside of mood issue. You know, there's a you know, you feel been pre warned.
Well and there's more risk in doing that, and I'm feeling quite well. It wasn't anxious, so I sort of it was like my.
Intuition was feeling I was trying to tell me something went out that airport. I get exactly what you mean, there's something that you go.
So we're in the hotel waiting for everyone to get ready, you know, the drivers and security and that sort of stuff, and I'm like, oh, I think I'm going to have diarrhea and running to the toilet.
Nothing's coming out.
And for me that was like intuition saying something shit's about to happen to you. So we jump in the car. The NATO team have left, so we were always meant to be this can car behind them. We jump in our vehicle, we take off. We get to basically the outskirts of Mogadishu where the Mogadishu University is. You've got African Union troops that are stationed there. You can see all the sandbags and guys behind machine guns and those sorts of things. The car stops and a security detail
that are in the vehicle. Basically we're told pretty much at that point that they have to leave us and we now have to travel five kilometers without security detail until we pick up our next security detail.
Did that not raise alarm bell?
Absolutely do.
So there's there's an inside job going on right there or something along those way. Yes, because you get your security detail. The idea is that.
They stay with you.
On the boots on the ground.
Well, it was explained to us that because they were seen as government forces, they can't travel into a militia run area, so that they would basically be stationed there. They would wait until we've come back from the day and we'd pick them up. So again, like you know, having done hostile environment training, we say, if the plan changes, you basically need to stop what you're doing, think about the consequences, think about the risks, and if it's too risky, you go home and have a cup of tea.
Yeah, red flags basically yeah. Yeah.
So Amanda and I had a really quick conversation. We were like, you know, we've come all this way, we really want to get this story. And we made the decision that we'd punched through.
And is that because you've been getting excuse my friend shit stories before and you're like, this is the first meeting one we're going to get. This is the first one that we're going to Yeah, I think really sink our teeth into.
For the first three days, it was this sort of fed stuff that they were sort of I think, look, I think.
Almost just pleasing you with little little things, you know.
To keep us busy while while a juice was working with the nat JA guys getting the stuff that we were sort of hoping or wanting to get as well. So it's just like, you guys just can have the scraps off the table. We'll just keep you busy, you know.
So the decision wasn't you were like, let's just go for it.
We're here now, let's go made a decision.
There's five of us in the car, we leave our security detail and we basically punched down the road. I'm mucking around with my camera, basically looking at the images I've taken from the day before, deleting images slowly, like so had all the shots from while I was with the African Union Forces. I can remember hearing Amanda and Abdi, who was our interpreter, sort of speaking by the stage. We created quite a good bond with Abdi. He was good fun, liked to laugh and they were sort of
singing and mucking around. And I can remember looking up over the driver's shoulder and seeing a car flashing as lights because we said they told us that we'd obviously intercept another security detail, and I just presumed that that was the car that was our security detail didn't really take much notice, went back to my camera, and then as we got to that car, we stopped, and then I sort of looked up and looked over my right shoulder and just saw a guy fully mask faced with
an AK forty seven literally sort of inches away from the glass. And then the next thing that you know, aw, four doors are ripped open. I'm dragged out of the vehicle driver, the second the guy who's in the in the front seat with the driver, and then Abdin Amanda who in the back were all brought around to my side of the car, pushed face down into the dirt AK forty seven at the back of the head. Very quickly, all five of us are bundled into the back seat
of this land cruiser. I've got this really big hostage taker who's now sitting beside us. So there's six of us in the back seat. I've got Amanda on my lap. Two guys jump in the front, one's got a pistol pointing back, and then two young guys again mask face at the back who are pointing AK forty seven's at the back of our heads.
Did you have time to realize what was going on or before you knew it. He was in the back of the land Cruiser.
Look, I saw him, and then I looked around and I saw more guys with guns, and it was like, I think the whole mast face was just like this, this ain't good. So basically they surrounded the car, doors all open. Everyone's ripped out, thrown on the ground, yeah, very quickly, thrown back into the vehicle. And then literally someone jumps in the driver suit and we take you. Yeah, and instead of driving down the road, they just go across country.
So they take you straight off grid.
Like I felt like we're doing one hundred and fifty. We're probably only doing eighty. But it was rough, Like I can remember sort of putting my hands up on the roof to brace because I've got a manda on me and we're just cross country, you know, driving cross scrub bush that sort of stuff.
And at this point, is there any sort of signals that you're trying to give to the others or any sort of or you just like your head is everywhere. You don't know what the hell is going on.
Like for me, I sort of describe it like your brain goes to cotton more, like you can't even think it's just that.
Goes some mush, doesn't it.
It does. It's like it's not panic, it's just I think, pure sh you.
Just realizing what's going on. You know it. You can't your brain can't compute what the hell is going on. It is like it takes so long before you actually realize, Wow, I'm in a whole world of pain right now. Yeah, things are going down here rapidly.
They basically demand everyone's mobile phones. I don't give them mine because it's it's in the back of my Jane, so I can't actually get to it. And again, like trying to work out timeframes is really difficult because the concept of time just goes, you know, to shit.
Compleat self preservation right now on.
So there's obviously the car in front of us that we'd stopped for, who's now sort of the lead car.
We're behind that.
After a few minutes we pull up, Amanda's ripped out out of the car and she's put into the front car. So then I guess, you know, my fear sort of goes up several notches because it's like they've just taken my friend and who's female, and they've separated us, which is not like I have no control of what's going on with her.
So you're all completely separated from each other.
And at this stage, like so there's the five of us that were in the car roil in the backseat. A man is the only one that's taken out of the vehicle and put in the lead vehicle. So we're trying to talk and the guy is saying stop talking, like they're not actually saying. They just again, we drive through bush and we're sort of coming into little villages on dirt roads, and then after the bush and then into a village, and so they're really trying.
To disorientate you, absolutely disorientatus.
We pull up again and then I'm pulled out of the vehicle and I'm put into the lead vehicle with Amanda. And that's the first time I meet one of the head guys called Ahmed, who speaks absolutely fluent English, introduces himself, says everything's okay, no need to worry. The commanders basically want to meet you and see who you are and understand what you're doing in the country.
Did you believe him?
Maybe I wanted to believe him.
Yeah, because you do. You want to you want to humanize yourself. Don't you want to there's that hope. That's when this starts to get.
The first person who didn't have a mask on either, so it was sort of like I could see his face, which which was also like terrifying in a way. It's like, because I don't want to see your face because now I can identify you, and I think they're the sorts of thoughts that are just flatting through your head. It's just like, what are they doing with this? And he said, look,
we're going to take you to a compound. Commanders of our group are going to they want to meet with you, want to understand who you are while you're in the country.
Is anyone hysterical? How was? Amanda was like none of us, all of you were just playing well, staying quiet all through that journey and just until.
So I think Amanda and I are in the back seat, we're sort of holding hands, but not hysterical at all. I think, trying to be calm and just look. I think also that that initial stage of shock is you just yeah, you just go.
You go with it, your schedule going to die, yeah, kick off or you yeah, there's that whole thing. You don't upset the people that have just you know, now in control of your life. Basically. Yeah, they decide what happens to you do, They decide where you go, They decide whether you live or die. Yep, it's yeah, that shock is it's almost submissive, I would say, you.
Know it is in a way. Yeah, I think just.
Playing the game with him. And we're then taken to a compound and it was in a small little village, you know, with a massive sort of ten twelve high foot war with metal gates. We drive into there, I'm taken out of the car, frog marched into. There's a I guess a low building with three rooms in it. I'm frog marched into the end room. Amanda asked to
go to the toilet straight away. So she obviously has her card from the her camera that has photographs with the African Union forces on it, so she's trying to delete that in the toilet. They obviously think she's trying to hide something.
Why did they catch her doing it?
No, they didn't catch her doing it, but when she was brought back to the room, within minutes, they come in and they take her to the room next door. I can hear her scream as they put well, she tells me after she comes back, but they put their hands down her, her boobs and then her hands indoor pants to say, she's.
Being sexually assaulted at this stage, Wow, and what's happening to you?
You can hear her screaming, So yeah, pretty terrified. Terrified because it's like, we'll hang on in the car. You said everything was okay, this is completely different.
Did you feel a sense of handover because that handover can that that can that's a method to really disrupt the individual.
Well, I think when we got to that compound, obviously saying more guys with more guns. It's just like, okay, waiting for us. So there's now more people involved. Put into that room. Obviously, doors shut again, so you sort of now in a room by yourself. Amanda was in there for the first period, you know, for the first few minutes, and then she was dragged out and then she's brought back. She's in tears, explains that she's been sexually assaulted.
They put you back together, Yeah, put us back together. And are you talking? Are you trying to come up with a plan or you just you're just trying to figure out what the hell is going on?
Trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and then I think, you know, after a short period of time, it's like, fuck.
We're been kidnapped.
Yeah, the penny drops. Why, it's like you've just been sexually assaulted. The situation has changed. We've been kidnapped. They think we're someone that we're not. Now we have to convince them that we're just you know, well just but just journalists.
You know, during that first few hours of being in the compound, they come in. They basically want passports and want money. Both of us have left our passports at the at the hotel because there's no point in going out in the field with your passport. I had one hundred US dollars on me. I think Amanda had less than that, but you know, went through my camera bag, they left all of my cameras, didn't touch any of that.
But they were just looking for documentation. Obviously asked us questions of who we were, what we were doing in the country, So explain, you know, I'm Nigel Brennan, I'm Australian photojournalist here for seven days. Amanda does the same thing. She's obviously from Canada. They bring us water, you know, do you want anything else? And I'm like, yeah, I want to pack of cigarettes.
Because if they offer as you don't know when that's going to be your last meal, your last smoke, your last drink. This is the samious thing. So if they're offering, always take.
Yeah.
So we're in the room, you know, chain smoking, trying to work out what's going on. A group of men come in once it's dark and basically I think there was four of them, So upmed one of the guys that was involved in the kidnapping, whose face I can't see. There's an the guy that comes in. He was introduced to me as Adam. He also speaks English. Another guy that was I think he was at the waiting at the compound, Captain Yahyah was how he was introduced.
Captain Yaya Adam.
Yeah, of course, yeah. And it's funny.
As time went on, Amanda and I actually had nicknames for all of them so that we could talk about them without without them knowing. But they sit down and they, you know, obviously, ask us what we're doing, why we're there. They accuse us of being spies, and we're like, if you you know, you guys have got obviously the Internet going to Google. Google my name, Google Anda's name, you'll
find all of this information. And then they say, basically, because you're from Australian Nigel and Amanda, you're from Canada, because both of your countries are at war against Islam, we're going to hold you for ransom and we're going to demand money from your governments.
Was that a moment that you thought we were going to be here for a long time because ransom asking they go on for coh they can go on for months and go on for years. Well, I guess you think yourself, we're in it for the long haul.
Look to be honest, at that stage, I was probably thinking this could last for a couple of months, Like, never did I think it was going to last for fifteen months. I was having momps, also having like I guess, you know, thoughts of Daniel Pearl who was beheaded in Pakistan, those sorts of things. So at that stage they didn't tell us how much they wanted, but they said we're going to ask money. We don't want money from your family.
We're only interested in money from your governments. And I knew that both Australia and Canada as part of the Five eyes, which is US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia will not pay a ransom for one of their citizens because they believe it basically creates an economy for that sort of industry, so I explained, And the Australian government will not pay you one cent.
For my life?
How does that make you feel?
Knowing that I understand why they make that decision because it does create an.
Economy and money, well it's just money.
But like I guess, does it then put a target on certain nationalities? Like I guess over the last decade, you've seen the French and the Germans and European nations who do pay. And it's not like a kidnapper, you know, target specific nationalities. They just grab and if they're fortunate enough, yeah, if they're fortunate enough to have someone from Europe, then they know that they're going to get money from a government,
even though those governments will say we don't pay. Whereas you know, you look at what happened in Syria with ISIS and with the Brits and the Americans that were obviously kidnapped, and you know, very sadly majority of them all end up dying as propaganda videos for isis.
So do you think you would be part of that city sick? Do you ever think that you were gonna?
Oh? I think absolutely absolutely.
At the start, it was like I said, you know, thinking about Daniel Pearl, and it's like capturing a Canadian and Australian whose forces are in Afghanistan and Iraqan places like that. It is like, it doesn't well, it doesn't bogue well. And we didn't know who we were dealing with at that stage, like they said they were the Somali Mujahadeen, So it's like, have they captured two citizens from nations that they can make, you know, make examples
out of. But also I think in the back of my head was the reality of I knew my government wasn't going to pay for my ransom, that it was going to fall on my family.
So mum and.
Dad had basically three years earlier sold their family farm for quite a substantial amount of money. I think it was about six million dollars, and I knew Amanda's family had basically no money at all. So the reality was, yes, they're telling us they want money from the Australian government and the Canadian government. If they don't get that eventually
they're going to go for the families. So I think for me it was that moral dilemma of I was going to destroy my mum and dad's retirement fund and I.
Can retirement full stop their lives.
Yeah.
Absolutely, like my entire family you know, did get caught up in this whole I guess experience of my kidnapping. And then there was the ethical question that sort of hit me as well during those first few months of do I want my family to pay a roundsom for me?
Is that ethically okay?
Is that money going to be used for means of this group buying more arms and innocent people being killed?
Like great, the white person gets.
His life back and Black Africans end up dying because of you know, potentially a two million dollar ransom payment that goes to this group that that they used that money to continue their their g haad in scenario.
Wow, So how long were you in captivity before your parents were told? It would have been what days?
Hours?
I think hours? Yeah, so straight away from the Australian embassy.
Well it's interesting too, I think you know, looking back at were these guys professional, had they done this before? It was probably not because I think in that first meeting with the head guys, they said we need the number for the Australian government, and I was like, call one three, I don't know, and the only number I had was Mum and Dad's landline, Like that was the only number that I knew off the top of my head.
So I gave them that.
Amanda obviously gave them her father's number in Canada, and I think it was pretty much within the twenty the first twenty four hours. It was a Sunday night, because I know my sister was at mum and Dad's having dinner with them, which was sort of a family tradition on a Sunday night, phone rang, my sister's answered it, and Adam, the guy that was part of that initial group that entered the you know, the Commander group. He ended up being the communicated for the for the kidnapping group.
Sister picks up the phone and basically says, I have your brother Nigel with amandolind out. We're demanding one point five million dollars each US so three million dollar ransom demand. If you don't pay within the next twenty four hours, we'll execute them.
Wow, and here and I hope you're enjoying Nigel's phenomenal story. I don't often do two part interviews, but this story is unlike anything I've ever heard before. So join me next week for the second half and hear what happened next. Thanks for listening to Headgame.