The al Qaeda captors of now-slain hostage Warren Weinstein pocketed $250,000 in ransom money from his family in 2012, before reneging on the secret deal, according to a Pakistani intermediary.
The captors even continued to negotiate with the intermediary for weeks after the 73-year-old American aid worker was accidentally killed in a US drone strike in January.
After that strike, the kidnappers spoke of handing Weinstein over to ISIS, never hinting he was dead, according to the intermediary, who spoke directly with the terrorists.
The ransom money — in $100 bills — had been handed over to kidnappers in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan about a year after his capture.
“The money was delivered, but he [Weinstein] didn’t show up,” the intermediary said.
Pakistani authorities even had a helicopter ready to fly Weinstein to the US Embassy in Islamabad.
Instead, the kidnappers, who called themselves Afghans and never admitted they were with al Qaeda, made new demands.
At one point, they proposed trading Weinstein for a US-trained Pakistani scientist who was serving an 86-year prison term in the US for trying to kill American soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan.
At other times, they proposed Weinstein be traded for militants in the custody of Pakistani security forces.
The Weinstein family shed little light on the secret ransom plot when it was revealed Friday, saying only that they’d sought out efforts to rescue him.
His wife had spoken by phone with her husband in a “proof of life” telephone call prior to the money being handed over, a family spokesman said.
“Over the 3¹/₂-year period of Warren’s captivity the family made every effort to engage with those holding him or those with the power to find and rescue him,” the spokesman said.
Weinstein got along well with his captors, the intermediary said.
He spoke Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, and learned to speak with his kidnappers in another local language, Pashto.
“They kept him well and sent a lot of money to keep him alive on medicine for the heart,” said the intermediary. “Otherwise, he would have been dead long ago.”
Also Friday, White House officials said they were considering setting up a “fusion cell,” or task force, to better communicate with hostage families and integrate the multiple agencies responsible for the rescue of captives.
With Post Wire Services