A Singaporean tour group leader offered himself as hostage after
gunmen boarded a bus he and his tour group of 20 were on in the
Sinai Peninsular during a trip to Egypt.
The Sunday Times reported that Vincent Toh and his tour group
members were travelling from Sinai to Cairo when they were
confronted by armed men in two vehicles on Friday around 4pm, Egypt
time.
Bedoiun tribesmen boarded their bus just before the entrance to a
tunnel connecting Sinai to the the town of Suez demanding that some
people leave with them.
That is when Mr Toh decided to go with the abductors so that the
rest of the group will be safe, according to local news
reports.
The gunmen tied him up and took him to an undisclosed location.
He said they spoke little English and he just followed their
instructions when they kept repeating "Go!" to him.
Mr Toh told local news reporters that the rest of the group were
not harmed but were very scared.
Within an hour of Mr Toh's abduction, a member of the tour group
alerted his family in Singapore, who in turn called the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Ambassador Tan told The Sunday Times that as soon as they received
news of the incident, they alerted their contacts in the Egyptian
system who were quick to make contact with the abductors and secure
the release of Mr Toh, though with negotations.
The abductors asked for the release of one of their tribesmen
arrested for possessing drugs in exchange for Mr Toh's release.
The Sunday Times reported that it was not clear if the demand was
met.
The kidnapping ended in the early hours of yesterday morning when
Mr Toh was released unharmed after about eight hours.
Around midnight on Friday, Mr Toh was on his way to El-Arish, the
Mediterranean coast of northern Sinai, where an official from the
Singapore Embassy met him and accompanied him back to Cairo.
The Sunday Times reported that all Singaporean members of the group
of 20 that Mr Toh was leading are safe and are due to return home
this morning but details of their visit to Egypt were not
immediately available.
Mr Toh, who works with the Christian Communications group in
Singapore, declined to be interviewed by The Sunday Times in Cairo
yesterday.
MFA has issued a travel warning for Sinai and urged Singaporeans to
avoid overland routes in the area.
Several other tourists have been held before for short periods by
the Sinai bedouins to show their discontent over poor treatment by
the Cairo government, and released unharmed.
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