In this weeks episode of Minutes With we sat down with Colin Freeman, a journalist who was kidnapped by Somali Pirates while conducting an investigation in to piracy.
Colin talks about how he had to hide in a toilet to avoid gunfire, how he bonded with his kidnappers over football and how he eventually escaped from his captors.
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With thanks to Colin Freeman Colin Freeman's Books: Kidnapped: Life As A Somali Pirate Hostage - www.amazon.co.uk/Kidnapped-Colin-Freeman/dp/1906308209 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The misson to rescue the hostages the world forgot: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785787020/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_3JP8QF3VS7531BHWRKNC
Was any money paid out to the pirates eventually???
Content like this is on KZhead is why TV is in decline
Totally agreed 👍
I hardly watch tv anymore other than live football
At least TV doesn't have adverts inturrupting every 2 minutes
Just need to get rid of the censorship
TV has been dead for over ten years. It just hasn't realised yet.
Note to self: If i ever get kidnapped talk about David Beckham
Standard....
Nope don't talk about any sports that involves the use of a ball!
Don’t worry nobody is going to kidnap you and I can guarantee you that.
Italian football/maradonna van Bastien / ronaldo
@@jamieforder4567 that's not nice is it
Listening to his story was like a movie in my mind.
I literally imagined it all
Like a Captain Philips thing
Its called thinking lol
@@emanuelpryor5303 shut up
That's what you usually do, when someone is telling a story. The receptors of the brain area receives and processes the information, intel and data. Which then travels through the brain where you articulate emotions, envision the appearances of the mentioned characters.
if i ever get kidnapped I'll be expecting my compensatory mars bar
@Heinous Anus would rather starve
@Heinous Anus theyd probably make you eat it as a torture method
@@Sturridge_FPL right on
more energy in a snickers though, worth the taste
He said a few mars bars and water.....surely it would be a mars milkshake because it would be melted?
Such a serious story and then he makes that bullet sound 🤣🤣🤣 This mans sense of humor probably helped him get through this for sure.
Came to the comments to write this exact thing
You are right. I was lucky enough to be kidnapped alongside a photographer who is really good guy, with a brilliant sense of humour. It's such a bizarre experience being kidnapped that there's sometimes quite a lot to laugh about (as long as you're not being physically harmed). People sometimes find it odd that you can make light of the situation, but to be honest you need to keep your spirits up in some way - things are grim enough as they are.
@@grazingmail is that you in the interview?
@@jeffrey3434 yes
@@grazingmail did you ever find out why they freed you?
what a good storyteller
I imagine he's asked to tell this story frequently
Well he is a journalist
He is a journalist
And he doesn't say "like" all the time!
To be fair its a pretty incredible story that he has here.
3:49 Suddenly turns from a horrifying kidnap into a rather aggressive picnic.
You should come to one of my families Christmas parties.
“And it’s fair to say that was a low point in the whole thing.” A bit of an understatement 😂
Oh, yeah, we were captives being shot at, hiding behind a boulder and lying in a pool of our own excrement. Not the most fun thing I've ever done...
It's like this guy and the woman who was with him went to a survival camp and other people who have been in captivity have been in torture Chambers or killed this guy is lucky af
I could literally picture everything he was saying.
Sameee
It’s called an imagination
@@adamcarey2528 That and the fact that the guy is a very good storyteller, he uses all the right words at the perfect pace
Like when he talked about wiping with a rock?
You have such good imagery perception
“We were sent to Somalia to find out how the Somalian pirates operate” Well.. u got front row seats my man!
Hes a very good researcher
Actually he was not only journalist. he was one British intelligence M16. Anybody who goes deep hinterland of no-go is gathering intelligence info. journalism is just cover story.
Man is dedicated
Somali no such word as Somalian
The problem with paying security such a small wage that the kidnappers only have to double their wage and it's goodnight mr.chips.
$20/day is a lot of money in Somalia
It's not a small wage for them!
@@Sorel366 Yeah exactly, this person apparently never stepped outside their county lmao. 20 bucks is about 12k in Somalian currency.
@@anitaremenarova6662 that’s why they collected the wages then set him up on the last day
Victim-blaming rears its ugly head once again. Seems a favorite pastime among the comfy armchair toy soldier set.
He should’ve said “I am the captain now”
They woulda killed him in the spot 😂 If a somali guy isn’t the captain then we riot
Well at least he got a lot of detailed information to report on...
I mean he did go to see how the pirates operated
@@georgetowle4977 aye he got a great first hand look lol
He put himself in a situation where he could at least get his story of being a westerner held captive. "OmG sUcH bRaVEry!"
I really like his voice and articulation. I find it to be really soothing
Ironically his surname is "Freeman"
😭😂😂😂
"How did you get kidnapped?" Someone paid a few guards more than $20!
"I think it's fair to say, that was a low point in the whole thing." Aaah, good old British stoicism. :D
Sounds like something Alan Partridge would say
For those who may be interested, The House in the Sky is an amazing story by a female American journalist who was kidnapped and held for ransom in Somalia.
This guy is crazyyyy respect for him to be able to have lived through this and be (apparently) so appeaced and accepting of what happened
I dnt have sympathy for people that put themselves in these situations, good story tho
this is legit the coolest man i've ever seen.
When you accidentally pay someone to kidnap you🙃
Yes I really can't believe they actually expected local Somali merceneries not to be pirates.
@@KristjanB Probably someone else recommended hiring these bodyguards and apparently they were not good people. But normally there's trusted private securities which provide protection to foreigners while they're in places that are not safe enough for them to roam around.
@@cnasir15 I wouldn't trust any locals or local companies. I mean they are living in Somalia, armed to the teeth and there is no governement or police so they can do whatever they want with no repercussion.
@@KristjanB actually, there is effective government in parts of somalia, like Northern Somalia which has two stable functioning administrations, somaliland and puntland, so in essence, visiting these regions and asking for government officials at the airport to provide armed security, is not only feasible but also trustworthy
garnet style
As a Somali this got me thinking...damnn I went on holiday there and not once did anyone think I'd be worth anything 😔
Hahahahah
As a Somali, your clan which you've never met would come to your rescue or revenge, so yeah you're not worth the trouble 🤣🤣
@@boono2912 😂😂😂
Bloody racists…
Thank God, No Pirate in Somaliland.
I really do like the British…here this guy has been kidnapped and when he is finally freed…he considers shaking the man’s hand. That’s class.
‘That was a kind of low point in the whole thing’ Classic British reserve, love it. Horrible experience but what a life story!
This needs to be made into a film 100%
Have you watched Captain Philips? if not, do so.
The bullet sound effects were on point 👍🏻
This reminded me of some Locked up abroad episodes. Always interesting to watch, and so was this.
Ah I used to love watching that series. Nobody liked watching it with me tho as I would get too excited well more scared and loud and annoying when they were going through airport security. Screaming my armchair support for international drug smugglers 🤣🤣 top show
@@victoriadempster6728 damn lol! I'm a pretty quiet guy and get nervous when my friends get too loud *in public* but if it were in a home or apartment, then it sounds like you'd be fun to watch that show with! 😆👍
Smiling is the best way to face every problem.
Disagree
If you like smiling while Somali pirates kidnap and ransom you then yeah sure
So this is the guy from the video that’s 11 years old and was recently recommended
Great now I’m madly in love with this old man simply because of his voice, speaking manner and his vocabulary.
Excellent storytelling
Brilliant video👏
Great stuff and great book Colin. Hope you're well.
Thankyou Pete!
"Lookin like Rambo" 😂😂😂 im wheezin😂😂😂😭
Outstanding!!
I remember reading about this in the newspaper
Nowadays those highly valuable ships are being guarded by heavily armed securities, lots of them being former military members. Some former french foreign legionnaires too.
Not all of them pal :/
@@kamikazeekarrot6306 no need. Do you want to find out which ones do? Fuck around and find out
Imagine raiding a seemingly defenseless cargo ship, only to find a platoon of ex-Legionnaires aboard just itching to send you to your maker.
Very interesting
@@Rilu666 fuck around and find out? I work on these ships, and sometimes we have no guards. Stop trying to be a hard man on the Internet -_-
6 weeks of shit & terror!! Maximum respect to you for remaining so calm 👊
The way they do this for free these are stories i would pay for
Great piece of work lad LADbible
this guy is great. Hope I'm never kidnapped but if I am I'd like to have someone with this guys cool demeanour with me.
And then he became the High Sparrow.
😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣 I kept thinking he looked familiar
😂🤣
🤣🤣🤣
LMFAO!! You guys are the absolute worst XD
Breakfast, lunch & dinner what a lovely bunch
I remember getting on the boat ... And being told it's ' loaded.....' No one gets on this boat. (Crewing for senior friends in the Pacific 1975) Possibly not the oldest profession Amazing this man is alive
I’m confused the title says “escaped” but he was clearly freed that’s like saying you escaped prison when you actually served all your time I was expecting a crazy story
My baby cousin slapped the shit outta me today cheeky fat boi, he is still very cute and i love him too much to even get a lil mad
I’m guessing it’s working under the assumption that they’d be killed, so they “escaped” in that they made it out alive. Also clickbait lol.
@@RubyBlueUwU exactly lol
@@RubyBlueUwU yea lol
@@Arman-ch5vi uhm... okay?
There should be a film about this story
You must have seen Captain Phillips? Pretty much the same story, just on a ship.
Wow, this is incredible
Calm, so calm
Such an incredible story, so it's hard to understand why you had to clickbait the title and say he escaped, when he was released...
Welcome to 90% of content now, it's annoying isn't it!
I COMPLETELY AGREE! With two other people who also clicked. 🤔 We shape all media with our habits. Welcome to what we allowed to happen.
i didn't even release
Some1 said this guy would give them 5 stars on trip adviser and i cant stop laughing about that 🤣🤣🤣 x
Bless the guy man
The way he says “pick up truck” soo sharply😭
Those criminal kidnappers treated their captives a lot better than than Americans treat their captives in Guantanamo Bay.
because guantanamo bay holds some of the most prolific terrorists to ever walk the earth
@@remington-7008 Oh really? I think most of the inmates have not even been convicted in a trial. The US government through out history have been the biggest international terrorists and supporters of terrorism.
@@remington-7008 lol you keep telling yourself that bud
@@NinjaWarriorDude416 guess you're the same guy that supports Hamas and Hezbollah
haha very true
Ah I wish this was more indepth and detailed much further. Such an amazingly visual story!
Especially the lying down in piss and shit bit.
Sitting not lying down 😂
He tells the story well
His voice is so similar to Mark Corrigans Dad...CAULIFLOWER IS TRADITIONAL! In all seriousness, what a brave bloke and incredibly scary story !
Haha brilliant! Need to watch all them again!
Think what's its doing to the mechanism.
put a muzzle on your woman
His accent is not like his at all, but he speaks well that's all.
Captain Phillip popped up quick in my mind
My father was a sailor in an international container ship. They visited there around 2010-2013. They confronted with a pirate boat. (literally fishing boat) Fortunately they managed the scare them and escape from them. I don't know are they still active around Gulf of Aden?
@@drewchainz3364 lmao that's some bullshit
As a Somali, I am really sorry about what happened to you and your friend as many other foreigners who suffered in the hands of pirates but at least fortunately they didn't tortured/mistreated you. Thankfully piracy in Somalia is decreasing each year in the last 10 years.
why apologize for something you had absolutely nothing to do with ?? Especially when western media & content creators tarnish Somalia's reputation by constantly attaching us to piracy. They're probably only uploading this video with its clickbait title just to gain views and continue perpetuating the propaganda that our country is dangerous & filled with pirates. smh
@@user-gm8wd4fv6z it has something to do with me smh since the perpetrators are fellow Somalis. By the way The media people get their revenues from the views so of course they doing what are doing for that I am just sorry and apologetic that small number of people are doing bad things in our name When most of us are decent people I am sorry that a country like ours which is full of potential is ravaged by monsters wether they are, the pirates, terror organisation, foreign powers and brainless politicians There a lot of things that pains me which I wish were otherwise
@@yusufgahnoug843 You are not responsible for someone else because you share an ethnicity, that is a dangerous mindset.
Well done for being mature enough to recognise this
@@user-gm8wd4fv6z because we can apologize for our fellow humans. Its a thing.
I am so interested in finding out what actually happened to make the pirates free the hostages. Especially handing them over to other Somalians.
If these pirates everytime killed those they kidnapped, then undoubtedly no one will agree to negotiate and pay the ransom request.
*somalis
Somali* u nacas
one word LACAQ
Other tribes probably negotiated their release for whatever they were offered to do so I'd imagine
The reason why pirates came about in Somalia was due to foreign nations stealing their fish and dumping their garbage nuclear waste into their seas. Talk about that.
Preach brother. It's honestly about f**king time that the wests starts taking responsibility for their actions, and yes, I'm from the west
they did it for good reason at the start. but the west handed them so much money for ransom that their eyes went away from the cause to the money. so after that its a buisness. easy money no one gets to die as well.
You should go join them hahaha
@@rongentile6431 let this foreign poor people out of our way this only happens to foreign coming to Somalia it’s literally the reason why the pirates we’re created to not let this whites steal out things h
Or under their roads, as my country (Italy) had been doing for years.
mind boggling
Thats wicked bro
How I escaped: "they freed me." Lmaooo, but seriously, great video. Super intriguing!
"look at me..I'm the captain now"
At the end of the video, what is the link/name of the "watch next" video?? Can't find it and really want to watch!
best one!
"I swear they got beef with the malis cause their tryna take over the town" #caadankaiskaillali
What are you on about
@@wagwan6248 if you don’t understand comment elsewhere Lil g
@@gdnumba3068 I’m not somali so ofcourse I won’t understand
@@wagwan6248 , Read it again..,it’s clear that it’s non Somalis talking about Somalis..it’s a famous lyric and also a famous saying in London, but it’s coined by non Somalis ..you don’t have to be Somali to understand what it means, if you know you know
😂😂😂 #Cadankawalawasa
What's the video in the end, like is it a sneak preview for the next minutes with or what?
i was wondering that too cant find it anywhere so i guess it's the next one
6 WEEKS?? wow I didnt expect it to be that long.
Watching from Somalia sorry man for that experience
Damn!!! Manchester united is everywhere
Manchester united have fans from somali people 60%
✈️✈️✈️
When you go to Somalia and it goes exactly as expected
Colin Freeman joined youtube 13 years ago and has 0 subscribers, the guy is commenting on a lot of comments here i’m his first subscriber
What a story
10:01 my sound of my wooden gun when i was a kid press the stamp 5 times 🤣🤣
wtf are you yapping about
I dont think you get what i was on about
@@SilverMist0121 You're right. I don't. It makes no sense.
@@tc1817 are you british even more so you have to be a certain generation to understand
Dw I did 😂
The title is stupid. He didn't escape, he was let go.
He has the voice of a Narrator
did you keep your shirt for the memories?
Damn I feel for him hope hes doing well nd not having any trauma.
All fine thankyou!
@@grazingmail What a legend
@@grazingmail what a guy
@@grazingmail foreign ships stealing from Somali waters why didn’t you address that
@@dennisbergkamp640 No one cares
At least you got some experience about how they worked and he did learn something about how they work and also if I were him I’d ask for a f***ing raise when I got back from my boss
TOP MAN
God bless you mate, I would have broken.
Colin could actually be a comedian LMAO
So weird but I can smell his aftershave bizzare never experienced that
Old spice or brut aquatonic
@@toplobster2699 tbh as long as you smell Sexi all G
@@sammyk707 same goes for you
This reminds me of law and order intent season 9 episode 1
He's so casual about it! Hope if i get kidnapped they've got a doubledecker going tho as i find mars a bit intense you know
Aye I wouldn't survive the Mars bar alright more of a snickers man myself
I legit thought pirates were always on boats. Mountain pirates seem like an idea for a whimsical children’s book. Probs leave out the bit about lying down in your own shit though.
Oh boy if you ever read the manga one piece they get reaaaal generous with the use of the term pirate
Yeah their easy to spot they all all have black eye patches with a skull and crossbones image on .
Same , silly me
he sounds like James casters dad. glad he is well and free now.
Amazing amazing
Could you do banged abroad
Man this guy wore his best shirt!
Was the video about how the man dressed or about his story ? Appearance doesn't matter if that's all you took from this video I suggest the next time just close your eyes and listen you'll enjoy it immensely
Then why you enter our ocean with-out permision? you deserved! viva My 🇸🇴❤
i need to a link to this actual full song or whatever song the intro to LADbible is tributing
How long was this ordeal? Was it just a few days or weeks?
Pirates can rethink their strategy by positively building and developing their own country. Make products from gemstones and sell them; sell salt; use your other commodities such as feldspar, gypsum, iron ore, copper, gold, kaolin, limestone, natural gas, quartz, silica sand, tantalum, tin, and uranium. Reinvest the money and build schools, hotels, hospitals etc.
Because pirates are the most "kindest samaritans" in the world! And more than anything want to see their nation's economy and society to prosper!
"Look at me, I said look at me. I am the captain now".
Look at me. LOOK AT ME! I’m the Journalist now.
This guy could make Dr. Disrespect sound respectful.