One of the self-styled "child retrieval experts" who helped carry out the 60 Minutes child abduction in Lebanon says the operation went perfectly until it was "botched by an evil person."
Briton Craig Michael, who is still in jail in Lebanon, issued a statement through the Child Abduction International Recovery organisation's (CARI) official Facebook page on Saturday.
More News Videos
- Video duration
- 00:21
Adam Whittington released from jail
- Video duration
- 00:50
Driver survives spectacular crash
- Video duration
- 01:05
Suspected burglar found dead
- Video duration
- 01:38
Nintendo looks at new corporate strategy
- Video duration
- 00:47
Ghazala Khan: I was in pain
- Video duration
- 00:24
Rio 2016: Australian athletes robbed
- Video duration
- 00:48
Suicide attack in Somalia
- Video duration
- 00:58
16 dead in Balloon crash
Adam Whittington released from jail
After allegedly being involved in a child abduction case, Australian man Adam Whittington has been released from a Beirut jail. Vision courtesy ABC News 24
CARI is run by Adam Whittington, the ex-Australian soldier and British police officer who was released on bail after a bitter feud with the father of the two children - Ali Elamine.
Michael praised Whittington, who upon returning home has vowed to reveal all about what went down in Beirut in the April operation but is focussed on raising the money needed for his three accomplices, including local men Khaled Barbour and Mohammed Hamza, to be also released on bail.
The four men were detained along with the Nine network's television crew, including star presenter Tara Brown and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner. Ms Faulkner and Whittington are facing kidnapping charges over the operation which unravelled after it was caught on CCTV.
Faulkner had sent the children to Beirut for a holiday with their father in May 2015 but he never returned them, prompting her desperate action.
The raid, funded by the Nine Network, took place in Beirut's southern suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, to whom Faulkner's estranged husband is closely connected.
Mr Elamine has bragged he had access to his ex-wife's email account and knew of her plans to snatch back her children. But Craig Michael said in his statement the child-snatch went exactly to plan until it was foiled at the very last minute "by a very evil person."
"Our operation was an initial success, only to be foiled at the last minute by a very evil person," he said. It is not clear to whom he is referring.
News Corp has previously reported that Mr Elamine was able to trace his ex-wife's whereabouts after she phoned him to tell him the children were safe and that that phone call was placed at the direction of the 60 Minutes crew who wanted the footage for the program.
He said they had been left behind to rot in "atrocious conditions" in Lebanese jails.
"I know lots of lies were spread and I want to tell you all, that Adam is a real super hero, stand up guy and that Channel 9 left us for such underhand reasons," Craig Michael said.
"My two daughters now aged 6 and 7 years old and my son in Cyprus are extremely upset, as were Adam's, thinking their Daddy is not coming home."
He urged his supporters to continue donating to their crowd-funding campaign to raise their bail.
Immediately after their release in April, the 60 Minutes crew were photographed drinking champagne on a business class flight home. The network released a photo of them drinking beer in an exclusive lounge ahead of their flight.
Privately, Nine insiders blame Whittington for staging a cowboy-style operation and believe they have no duty towards the crew that carried out the operation they funded.