A respected Queensland professor kidnapped in Papua New Guinea has touched back down in Australia after a harrowing week in captivity. 9News
Authorities pledged to hunt down the armed kidnappers and revealed some money changed hands to free archeologist Bryce Barker and three others taken hostage by an armed group on February 19 while doing fieldwork in a remote part of the country's highlands.
An Australian-based archaeologist and two Papua New Guinea nationals have been released from captivity after being taken hostage by an armed group in a remote part of Papua New Guinea several days ago. Bryce Barker, and the other hostages were reportedly held at gunpoint by 20 armed men, according to a local police report.The University of Southern Queensland academic and New Zealand citizen flew into Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, west of Brisbane, on a charter plane on Monday night.
Kidnap for ransom is an uncommon crime in Papua New Guinea, a tribal society of 9 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers."Let me tell all the criminals: Police firepower is always higher than criminal firepower. I will not tolerate this sort of nonsense anymore," Marape told reporters, adding that police and soldiers remained at the crime scene.
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