Kidnapped cafe owner escapes

2010-03-23 21:01

The Hague - A Dutchman who was kidnapped from his cannabis-vending coffee shop in Amsterdam last December, escaped from his captors in neighbouring Belgium on Tuesday, Dutch police said.

"Despite the cuffs around his ankles, he managed to escape and alert the police at a petrol station," Amsterdam police said in a statement.

Said Faggouss had been held at a building in Maasmechelen in the north east of Belgium.

He appeared "healthy", police said.

Faggouss was kidnapped from his coffee shop in Amsterdam on December 8 by four men with automatic firearms who forced him into a delivery van and drove off.

Investigators found a cannabis plantation at the place where Faggouss had been held in Maasmechelen, the statement said.

No arrests have been made.

Police would not give more details of Faggouss' escape or the motive for his kidnapping.
 

- SAPA