Kidnapping, blackmail gang captured in Tikrit

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: A gang of four persons, including a woman, was arrested in Tikrit city on Friday on charges of involvement in kidnapping and blackmailing local residents, a police official said. “The Tikrit police department’s anti-crime squad forces managed to arrest a gang kidnapping local residents and then asking for large sums of money in return for their release,” Col. Hatem Akram, the Salah al-Din Police Department’s relations & information chief, told Iraqi News. “The gang was arrested in a raid on a house in al-Hai al-Aasri neighborhood, central Tikrit, the members were using as a hideout,” he said, adding the police also freed a man taken hostage. Tikrit, the capital city of Salah al-Din province, lies 175 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 1