Yemen’s Houthis kidnap banking officials in Sanaa

Yemen’s Houthi group has kidnapped two officials of the Saba Islamic Bank and forced them to sign financial orders under duress.

“Gunmen affiliated to the Sanaa-based Houthi group kidnapped Mohammad Al-Baidani and Mohammad Al-Qadi while they were working as assistants to the general manager at the Saba Islamic Bank in the Dhamar governorate,” local Al-Masdar Online quoted a source at the bank as saying.

The source noted that Al-Baidani was kidnapped as he headed to the airport to travel “to attend the bank’s board meeting in Djibouti.” He added that the kidnappers had forced the bank officials “to sign orders, while in prison, of money transfers from an account in the bank to another at the country’s Central Bank.”

In recent months, several Yemeni bank officials have been kidnapped by Houthi militants in an attempt by the latter to pressure banks to pass illegal requests and pay royalties to finance their activity.

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