Norway’s foreign ministry has set up crisis teams to deal with the kidnappings of two Norwegians that were reported this month. They haven’t been able to report any major developments in either case, though.
Experts think the seizure of Ole-Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad in Syria can drag on for a long time. In that case, Norwegian authorities have been involved since his seizure in January, but the kidnapping only became known publicly when his Islamic extremist captors published his photo headlined “Norwegian for sale.”
The second kidnapping, which took place in the Philippines, is expected to also lead to ransom demands after Kjartan Sekkingstad, age 56, was seized late at night along with two Canadian tourists and a Filipina woman from a yacht club. Philippine authorities have few leads but an investigation is ongoing and the hostages are believed to have been taken to another island group.
newsinenglish.no staff
