Posted on 08/06/2007 3:29:19 PM PDT by Squidpup
SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION, La Reunion — Sixteen members of a religious cult — including a leading fugitive — were in custody on an Indian Ocean island Monday after French commandos stormed their compound and rescued a boy they allegedly kidnapped.
Among those arrested was the believed head of the group, Julien Verbard, a 25-year-old who was convicted in absentia of raping two boys but had evaded police on the French island of La Reunion for three years.
Police say the cult considered 12-year-old Alexandre Thelahine a "new messiah" and abductors seized him from his parents' residence in Saint-Denis de la Reunion on Friday. They escaped by car before abandoning it and switching to another vehicle.
The child was kept in a house rented by the cult, called Mary's Painful and Immaculate Heart, in the southern part of La Reunion, a popular vacation destination for tourists from the French mainland.
On Sunday, agents from the elite GIGN police force stormed the compound near the Piton-de-la-Fournaise volcano. Four hours later, police said they had rescued the boy and arrested the cult members "without incident."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
How big is that island?........
970 square miles, according to Wikipedia.
2512 sq km
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union
Then I could see how he could evade police for 3 years........
There’s such a thing as “French commandos”? Who knew?
Nice doggie.
And they did it without killing the rest of the people there not like Janet Reno who wound up killing 72 plus people at the Branch Davidian complex in Waco ....
Thank goodness the fighting Frenchman is back. Sarkozy took the lead by getting in the AP’s face. Bienvenue!
Yes, I’d want to be VERY nice to that doggie if he was anywhere near me. He looks like one serious commando. Look at his bulging doggie-ceps, and that utterly humorless and focused stare!
As for the humans, are we sure those are really Frenchies under there? Weasely, white-flag waving, cheese-eating surrender monkeys? After all, the French are the people who quickly capitulated after students and recent graduates rioted at the announcement that they would not be guaranteed employment for life, after their 4 or more leisurely years of pretending to study useless subjects. And who are letting barbarian Muslims overrun their country.
Maybe they’re from Alsace? :)
“There’s such a thing as “French commandos”? Who knew?”
The last two survivors of the French Foreign Legion.
not sure but bet these are french foreign legion troops from Djibouti. not Frenchmen
LOL—That would be interesting. Police officers who don’t have to reveal their pasts.
Should you read the books in series, or can I skip directly to that one?
probably right, glad they got the job done.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.