News: Indiana Man Kidnapped By Terrorists
Jeff Ake Held Hostage
AP/South Bend TribuneA LaPorte small-business owner providing machines to purify and bottle water was taken hostage by a terrorist group calling itself the Iraqi National Resistance.
Held by three men at gunpoint, Ake, according to Al-Jazeera, allegedly asked for the U.S. to "open a dialogue with the Iraqi resistance." Al-Jazeera aired the video, but not the audio.
Ake currently resides in LaPorte, about 25 miles west of South Bend. He is the founder and president of Equipment Express, based in nearby Rolling Prairie. Equipment Express builds, sells, installs and services liquid-packaging machines for national companies, like Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola; but also for several international markets. Ake often gives seminar speeches about doing business overseas, and wrote a book in 1996 called Aggressive Exporting: How To Make Your Small Company Into An International Tiger. Equipment Express has been awarded one of Indiana's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies by the IU Business School twice.
Jeff Ake is married to Liliana, who was born in Russia. They have four children.
EE WebsiteLiliana and Jeff Ake accept the Growth 100 Award in November, 2003.
More:
South Bend Tribune: Rolling Prairie businessman taken hostage in Iraq
South Bend Tribune: Abduction hits home
LaPorte Herald-Argus: LaPorte man held hostage in Iraq
WNDU-TV: LaPorte man held hostage in Iraq
Hat tips: The Jawa Report, The Irish Trojan
AP/Yahoo!
posted by Marsh @ 5:00 PM
<< Home