Romantic African tryst turned out to be kidnap scam Tom Allard National Security Editor August 11, 2007 ALL was going to plan as the Australian got off a plane in steamy Mali, in western Africa.
Mali, a semi-arid savanna and desert country is not "steamy".
Two polite African men carried his luggage and ushered him through customs and immigration. A chauffeur was waiting, holding a small sign with his name. An air-conditioned Mercedes sat outside to take the 56-year-old man to meet Natacha, the young woman he had fallen in love with.
Little did he know, but his exotic, romantic adventure was about to go horribly awry. The men were not, as they claimed, Natacha's relatives, but gangsters, perpetrators of a terrifying internet scam that sucked in the unfortunate bachelor from regional South Australia.
Within an hour of arriving, the man - who has asked not to be named - was stripped naked, a gun put to his head, while men brandished machetes in his face.
He had come to Mali expecting to meet Natacha for a promised liaison and to be given $100,000 in gold. Instead, the men demanded he pay them $100,000 or have his arms and legs hacked off one by one.
Oh... by "love" they meant "the lure of sex with a hottie and a pile of money". How stupid of me! I'll update my dictionary. Everyone knows that when you fall in love it's only because someone promises you sex and $100,000. Or maybe that's just in Tom Allard's life.
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