Exclusive: In his first TV interview, former London minicab driver Dahir Abdullahi Kadiye describes his role in the release of the British yachting couple Paul and Rachel Chandler.

The former taxi driver from Leyton Briton who masterminded the release of Paul and Rachel Chandler from Somali pirates after more than a year in captivity Chandlers’ release, told Channel 4 News “I did not make any money”.

In his first TV interview, Dahir Abullahi Kadiye told Channel 4 News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jonathan Rugman: “When I saw them, I had to show them my British passport to convince them I was not a pirate myself.

“I told them, I’m from east London, I’m here to pick you up, and from now on you are free and we will go home together.

“And then we cried, the three of us.”

Mr Kadiye, 56, took on the hostage negotiator job six months ago because his children told him they were ashamed at school when they saw the Chandlers’ appeals for help on television.

Read all the Channel 4 News reports on the Chandlers



The negotiator describes himself as a “businessman”, and divides his time between his wife and children in Leytonstone, east London, and his native Somalia. Before the Chandlers’ release, Mr Kadiye was also involved in brokering the deal to release the “Sirius Star” supertanker, a Saudi ship that was the largest ever hijacked by Somali pirates.

The Chandlers were captured by Somali pirates while sailing their yacht from the Seychelles towards Tanzania

After more than a year in captivity, the pair were released on 13 November. The couple are now safely back in the UK after their ordeal.