Australian taken hostage in Mali in online bride scam

A south Australian sheep farmer has warned of the perils of falling in love over the internet, after an online bride scam almost cost him his life.

Des Gregor, 56, has arrived back in Adelaide after being held hostage in the African nation of Mali for 12 days.

He had gone there expecting to marry a woman he had met over the internet, and pick up a US$86,000 (£43,000) dowry.

But instead he was held hostage, with his kidnappers demanding US$86,000 from him in ransom else he would be killed.

Mr Gregor, set off to Mali on what he hoped would be an exotic adventure, during which he would not only meet his African bride but pocket a huge dowry in gold.

The target of his affections was a woman purportedly called Natacha, a Liberian refugee in her twenties whom he had met and fallen in love with over the internet.
Mr Gregor was picked up at the airport by men claiming to be Natacha's relatives but who turned out to be gangsters.

After taking him to a flat in the capital, Bamako, they stripped him naked, held a gun to his head and threatened to chop off his limbs with machetes.