Sunday, August 19, 2012

Previewing Locked Up Abroad: Nightmare in Somalia


If there has been one thing I have learned while watching Locked Up Abroad is that you never become a drug mule, no matter how easy your buddy would have you believe it is. And if you must, certainly do not go to a third world country to collect your stash. If there was a second lesson I have learned from the show is to stay out of countries described as “war torn” especially Muslim practicing countries. Of course if everyone had heeded these rules then Locked Up Abroad would have only lasted about half a season.

Tomorrow’s episode (premiering at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel) features Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan who travels with Canadian reporter Amanda Lindhout (who unfortunately did not participate in the show) to report on “war torn” Somalia in July 2008. Uh oh. Note to any journalist going to a “war torn” country, when your hired bodyguards will not go to a certain part of the country, you probably should not go either. Not surprisingly Nigel and Amanda get kidnapped and held for ransom by Somali terrorists.

Just when you think this you’re your run of the mill kidnapping Locked Up Abroad story, about half way through Neil and Amanda come up with a plan to escape their captors in an unknown country leading to an edge of your seats chase through the streets that could save their family millions of dollars American of random. The whole ordeal lasted for 462 days and for those that want the extended story after watching the episode, Nigel wrote a book, The Price of Life: The True Story of an Australian Held to Ranson for 462 Days, with his sister and sister-in-law, a 467 page detailed account of his time in Somalia and how his relatives back home coped with his capture and how they tried to secure his release. You can watch a preview of the episode below:

Islam Conversion

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