Australian kidnapped in Philippines pleads for help
- 12 years ago
(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION)
An Australian man being held hostage by a suspected Islamist militant group on a southern island in the Philippines has appeared in a video saying his captors were seeking $2 million in ransom.
Warren Richard Rodwell, a retired Australian soldier, looked pale and drawn in the video sent to his wife and obtained by a correspondent of local broadcaster Net25, at times choking with emotion and stumbling over his words.
Rodwell has been missing since he was taken at gunpoint from his house in Ipil town on the restive island of Mindanao on December 5.
The Australian government, which has a longstanding policy of refusing to pay ransom demands for its citizens, has set up a taskforce to assist Philippine authorities.
An Australian man being held hostage by a suspected Islamist militant group on a southern island in the Philippines has appeared in a video saying his captors were seeking $2 million in ransom.
Warren Richard Rodwell, a retired Australian soldier, looked pale and drawn in the video sent to his wife and obtained by a correspondent of local broadcaster Net25, at times choking with emotion and stumbling over his words.
Rodwell has been missing since he was taken at gunpoint from his house in Ipil town on the restive island of Mindanao on December 5.
The Australian government, which has a longstanding policy of refusing to pay ransom demands for its citizens, has set up a taskforce to assist Philippine authorities.