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Brit Kidnappings Linked to Iraqi Officials

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 31, 2009 3:52 AM CDT

(Newser) – The kidnapping of five British men in Baghdad two years ago appears to have been masterminded by Iraqi officials instead of insurgents, a Guardian investigation finds. Technology specialist Peter Moore and his bodyguards were seized from Iraq's Finance Ministry by 40 men in police uniforms. Interviews with Iraqi and British sources reveal that the kidnappers had inside help, and that the motivation was almost certainly the work Moore was doing to prevent corruption.

Moore was installing a new computer system that would have tracked the movement of oil money, potentially revealing billions of dollars in embezzlement. The well-planned kidnapping "was on a state level, not al-Qaeda," said one witness. "Only the state has the capability to carry this out." Moore is the only one of the five men believed to still be alive. "I appeal to the Iraqi government to bring about the safe release of my son," his mother said on learning of the Guardian's findings.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

Iraqi Army soldiers search vehicles at a temporary checkpoint in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq shortly after the 2007 kidnapping of five Britons. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

This image made from video purports to show one of five Britons, who were kidnapped in May 2007. The man, who identified himself as Jason, is now believed to be dead. (AP Photo / Al-Arabiya TV)

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Many people don't want a high level of corruption to be revealed. Remembe,r this is the information technology centre, this is the place where all the money to do with Iraq and all Iraq's financial matters are housed. - A senior intelligence source

This is the only thing that makes perfect sense the only thing that has ever made perfect sense since the kidnap began. There is no way that 40 armed policemen would be able to storm into that building and take my son.
- Avril Sweeney, Peter Moore's mother

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