Kidnap ordeal over
AN Australian farmer held hostage in Mali for 12 days by a gang of men posing as an online love interest has urged others to be careful when seeking romance on the internet.
Des Gregor, 56, travelled to the landlocked African nation last month to meet his supposed bride, Natacha, whom he had met on the internet, and collect a dowry of gold bars worth 42,500. But when he arrived, the wheat and sheep farmer was kidnapped by a gang of armed bandits who bound him, beat him with a machete and stole his cash and credit cards. The scam was stopped when police tricked kidnappers into taking Gregor to the Canadian Embassy to collect the ransom money.