Somalia: Ransom-cash foreigners freed

Somalia has freed six foreigners sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for bringing millions of dollars intended for pirate ransom into the country, a government spokesman said yesterday.

Abdirahman Omar Osman said the three British nationals, an American and two Kenyans, were freed after the President granted them a pardon.

The men were arrested in Mogadishu last month after two aircraft were found to be carrying millions of dollars in cash. Two of the defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison, the others were sentenced to 10.