Rival pirate gangs squabble over fate of kidnapped British couple

Somali pirates said yesterday that a captured British couple had been moved from a container vessel to shore and there was now a dispute between different gangs over the captives.

Gunmen kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, on Friday, soon after they left the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean. One of the pirates said they had agreed on a $7m (£4.2m) ransom for the two, but others said it would only be decided once the pair were on land. The couple were moved from their yacht to a large container ship because the pirates feared foreign forces would try and rescue them.

"We were displeased by the men holding the British people. They were our friends. We helped them when a rescue operation was likely," one pirate told Reuters. "But they disrespected what we did for them. They took the pair yesterday to land and broke off relations," he said. "We are warning them it will lead to disaster for them. We will spare no efforts to foil them if they insist on separating from us."

Ransom demands tend to be whittled down during protracted negotiations. In a tearful phone call to her brother, Stephen Collett, Mrs Chandler said she and her husband were coping with the pressure, and their captors had given them food and water. "Please don't worry about us," she said, in a recording of the conversation shown on ITV News.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the British government was aware of the reported ransom demand but could not confirm its authenticity.