Crooked guard led to aid workers' kidnapping in Somalia, group says

A crooked Somali cop may have been the one who made the kidnapping of two foreign aid workers in October possible, the safety adviser for their employer told CNN.

U.S. military forces rescued Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Thisted, 60, on Wednesday after they spent three months in captivity. Now in Sicily, the aid workers are to be reunited with their spouses.

Buchanan and Thisted were traveling in Somalia as workers for the Danish Refugee Council at the time of their kidnapping.

Fredrik Palsson, the group's global safety adviser, revealed new details about how the pair were captured.

Nongovernmental organizations such as Danish Refugee Council are required to have security while traveling in certain parts of Somalia. The Somali government provides protection, not private security companies, Palsson said.

Known as special protection units, these guards operate only in specific areas, and so aid workers must change vehicles and switch guards when they cross from one region to the next, he said.

"What happened was that one of the guards, he was sold out, and he had as a mission: to capture expatriates," Palsson said.

The kidnappers paid off one officer, who replaced the regular guards with others who were in on the corruption, he said.

"And as they came close to the changeover position, then they were stopped, and then they were moved into other vehicles and they were driven away," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said that the two rescued aid workers need time out of the media spotlight to recover.

The workers' health and welfare are the top priority, the military statement said, appealing to journalists to respect the privacy of the freed hostages and their families.

"It is extremely important that they have the chance to decompress from this event without the pressure of instant overwhelming public notoriety," it said.

In a joint statement issued through the Danish Refugee Council, Buchanan's and Thisted's families expressed relief the two were rescued unharmed.

"We are grateful for all the efforts that have been put into getting them safely back to us and for the fact that a very difficult chapter in our lives is over," it said.

"We need to look ahead now, and it is going to take time for us all to adjust and to return to normal life. We would like to thank all media for having respected our needs for privacy, and we request for everyone to continue to show us this respect and to give us time and privacy, which is all we need now."

The reintegration process allows the Defense Department to gather critical information while taking care of the freed captives, the military said.

"The process ensures returnees have the best chance to return to their previous lives following this significant event," it said.

The two hostages were freed in a dramatic overnight rescue operation.

U.S. special operations forces parachuted into Somalia from airplanes early Wednesday, advanced on foot to a compound where the two kidnapped workers were being held and then freed them, U.S. officials said.

The nine gunmen holding the hostages were killed, officials said.