YouTuber's mission to interview notorious Haitian gang leader results in apparent kidnapping
An American YouTube personally has apparently found himself in a perilous situation after traveling to Haiti. Addison Pierre Maalouf, widely recognized as YourFellowArab, went to the country to interview Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier, the infamous leader of G9 Family and Allies. Within 24 hours of arriving, Maalouf and his Haitian colleague were abducted by members of the 400 Mawozo gang on March 14. Held for a staggering $600,000 ransom, Maalouf's captors have already received $40,000, but persist in demanding a substantial sum for his release.
“Tried keeping it private for two weeks, but it’s getting out everywhere now," wrote streamer Lalem on social media on Thursday (March 28). "Yes, Arab has been kidnapped in Haiti and we’re working on getting him out. Love y'all, he’ll be out soon." Lalem also shared Maalouf's last video, wherein he cautioned viewers about gang dominance in the area. "This is the last video he recorded before he got kidnapped. If you have his number, please don’t text him while he’s in there for safety reasons," he added.
Another YouTuber, Miles "Lord Miles" Routledge, also chimed in on the crisis and stated that he had direct communication with Maalouf via a captor’s phone. "Arab went in with Sean Roubens Jean Sacra, a fixer in Haiti, who Arab met up [with] in the Dominican Republic." He tweeted in a lengthy thread. "Sean has also been kidnapped. Sean was the fixer for the excellent YouTuber ChrisMustList and many others. Arab entered the country 10 days ago to film the riots." He then claimed that Maalouf is being kept “in a cage in a place on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.”
Routledge continued, "Some of Arab’s friends have privately, and now publicly, said some negative things about him going to Haiti. I don't appreciate this one bit. I'm nowhere close to Arab but he was trying to bring good content about a collapsing part of the world. He does not need this right now."
You can check out more from Lalem and Routledge explaining the entire situation below.
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