The Somali group are desperate to help

SOMALIS living in Redbridge have vowed to do “everything in our power” to help free a British couple kidnapped last year by Somali pirates stalking the Indian Ocean.

Yusuf Munye, 34, of Chester Road, Seven Kings, is leading a united front among the borough’s Somali population in the push to get Rachel and Paul Chandler released.

They were kidnapped while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania in October.

Their captors have threatened to kill the couple if their demands for $7million (£4.4million) are not met.

Mr Munye said: “Some people think the Somali community in Ilford supports the pirates.

“The main reason we have come together is to show we don’t support them.

“We are totally against their actions and we support our British brothers and sisters.”

Video footage released of the couple at the end of January showed them appealing for help after almost four months in captivity.

Last week, members of the Redbridge Somali community met in the Cardinal Heenan Centre, High Road, Ilford, to discuss what they could do to help bring the couple home.

Mr Munye said: “The government has said they won’t pay a ransom but we’re thinking about raising money to help.

“We’re also talking about trying to make contact with these pirates to help bring the Chandlers home.

“If we’re able to talk to them or to others in Somalia, there’s a chance they will release them.

“We will do everything in our power to free them.”

Mrs Chandler, 60 and Mr Chandler, 56, are understood to have been separated by their captors and are being held in areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara, which is further inland.

Sourced from www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk