Former Scots soldier kidnapped three times tells of horror of being held hostage
dailyrecord.co.ukA former Royal Marine who was kidnapped three years in a row has lifted the lid on being held hostage. Simon Maryan spent 16 years as a marine after enrolling at the age of 16.The 52-year-old, of Aberdeen, worked for multinational companies and intelligence services around the world after leaving the armed forces.He has been kidnapped in Sweden and Nigeria, being taken against his will twice in the African country.
He explained: "Kidnapping is going on all day every day. "It is huge business. It was an unfortunate side to the job but I am extremely lucky in that the hostage periods were short." Simon lives with his wife and two children.He was kidnapped for the first time in 18 years ago, in 2006, while working for a private intelligence service in Bayelsa, Nigeria, Aberdeen Live reports.
Simon was taken hostage by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) - a military group campaigning against government corruption and environmental destruction, he says.The militia was kidnapping westerners for the money and to make a political statement.
Simon said: "It was the most surreal situation."Fifteen to twenty Nigerian gentlemen boarded our boat in the middle of the night with RPGs and AK-47s.
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