Stepfather scotches mother link to kidnap
The British stepfather of a six-year-old girl kidnapped in the Philippines has dismissed claims that the snatch was organised by her mother.
Douglas Grant has rubbished the suggestion that his wife Mina had organised the kidnapping of her daughter Eiman April from her home.
He says a suggestion from the military in the country that they would not discount the possibility Mrs Grant organised the kidnap to extort money from him was ridiculous.
Speaking from his home in Inverness, the 50-year-old former soldier said the military has failed to take action since the kidnapping on Wednesday and were now trying to to divert attention from it.
Mr Grant said: "It is a lot of garbage. I have just spoken to a gentleman in the Phillipines who is with my wife. He has known her for less than 12 hours and said to me that if she is a liar, she is incredibly accomplished.
"The military are issuing statements like this because they have done nothing for the past two or three days to find Eiman and want to divert attention from that."
But Sergeant Bong Ragasa, of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, has confirmed Mrs Grant's involvement is being examined and said: "It has not been proven yet but it is a possibility, and we would not discount it."
A military intelligence report has suggested that Eiman may have been abducted by relatives or neighbours, according to the Philippines Daily Enquirer.
The kidnappers, who had been thought to be linked to a Muslim separatist group called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), took the girl from the family home on the remote island of Basilan in the southern Philippines earlier this week.
Mrs Grant said they demanded 100,000 pesos (£1,300) and when she could not produce it they snatched Eiman and ordered her family to come up with the cash.
