One month after their abduction, three Turkish women were released by their kidnappers in Haiti, an official with the bus company that operated the vehicle transporting the group told Agence France-Presse (AFP). They were among eight kidnapped Turkish nationals.
"They were released this weekend for health reasons, because they were sick," said Michaelle Durandis, representative of the Metro bus company. On May 8, the bus was traveling from the Dominican capital Santo Domingo, bound for Port-au-Prince, when it was hijacked by one of the most powerful armed gangs in Haiti shortly after crossing the border.
Twelve people were on board the bus at the time: eight Turkish nationals, three Haitians and a Dominican.
The Turks, aged between 20 and 26, were members of an educational and religious association, according to Hugues Josue, Turkey's honorary consul in Haiti.
The two employees of the transport company, the Haitian hostess and the Dominican driver were released less than a week after the hijacking. "The kidnappers still have the five Turkish men and they are still in possession of the company's bus," Durandis said. "The parents of the two Haitian passengers gave money so that they (the gang members) could release these passengers," she added, without providing details about when they were released or the amount of ransom paid.
Haitian police are struggling to tackle gangs in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding countryside: for the month of May alone, at least 200 kidnappings were recorded by the United Nations, crimes overwhelmingly committed in the capital.
For several years, one of the most powerful gangs in Haiti, called "400 Mawozo," has controlled the area between the Dominican Republic and the Haitian capital, where the Turkish nationals were kidnapped.
In April 2021, the armed gang abducted 10 people, including two French Catholic priests. In the fall last year, a group of 17 people, North American missionaries and members of their families, including five children aged 8 months to 15 years, were held hostage by the same gang for several weeks.
