Hijackers duped

Adollars 10m ( pounds 6.6m) kidnapping in southern Russia was foiled by army pilots who tricked the gunmen into landing in the wrong place, the Defence Ministry said yesterday, Reuter reports from Moscow.

The four gunmen had planned to land their commandeered helicopter in Khasavyurt, near the border of the rebel province of Chechnya, where Russian security forces have no control. But the pilots, who volunteered for the job after the gunmen took nine teenagers and four adults hostage, diverted in bad weather to Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea, 80km (50 miles) away. The kidnappers failed to notice and were caught within a few hours.