Europeans charged with kidnapping in Chad

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

ABECHE, Chad (AFP) — A judge in Chad late Monday charged 16 Europeans with kidnapping or complicity after a charity attempted to fly more than 100 children to France, the prosecutor's office here told AFP.

Nine French nationals -- members of the charity Zoe's Ark or journalists -- were formally charged with "kidnapping of minors with the aim of compromising their civil status" and "swindling," an official in this eastern town said.

Seven Spanish members of the plane's flight crew who were to have flown the 103 children out of the country were charged with complicity.

All 16 were arrested just as the plane was due to take off from Abeche, 700 kilometres (450 miles) east of the capital N'Djamena, last Thursday.

A Belgian pilot who was also arrested is...