Report: UN document links Britons to Somali pirate kidnapping

LONDON – The Times of London says a secret section of a United Nations report has linked British citizens with Somali piracy.

The newspaper says that a 2012 report drawn up by the UN’s Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea carried a secret annex naming a British businessman of Somali origin as one of the key organizers of a pirate kidnapping in 2009.

The Times quotes the annex as saying that the businessman is responsible for “co-organizing hijackings and abductions” and was directly involved in the abduction of Paul and Rachel Chandler, a British couple held captive for 13 months before a ransom was paid in 2010.

Efforts to reach some of the report’s authors weren’t immediately successful Saturday.

No contact information for the businessman could immediately be located.

The Associated Press