American YouTuber Addison Pierre Maalouf, popularly known as YourFellowArab or Arab, has allegedly been kidnapped in Haiti by one of the gangs that become its de facto rulers. According to the New York Post, the Georgia-based YouTuber had travelled to the violence-stricken country to interview the nation's most notorious gang leader, Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier. However, just 24 hours after he arrived in Haiti, Mr Maalouf and a Haitian colleague were taken by members of the 400 Mawozo gang on March 14.
According to The Post, the YouTuber is being held for a $600,000 ransom, and even though $40,000 has already been paid, the kidnappers are continuing to demand a large sum of money to secure Mr Maalouf's release.
Mr Maalouf has over 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube. He is famous for exploring dangerous places that are void of general tourism.
As the news of his disappearance spread online, fellow streamer Lalem confirmed that his friend had been taken hostage. "Tried keeping it private for two weeks, but it's getting out everywhere now," Lalem posted on X. "Yes Arab has been kidnapped in Haiti and we're working on getting him out," he added.
In a separate post, Lalem also shared the last video Mr Maalouf posted online. The clip showed the YouTuber at a hotel in Haiti. In the video, he said that he and his crew intended to travel to the capital city of Port-au-Prince, but had to wait until the early morning hours so they could arrive in the sunlight. He also noted that Port-au-Prince is "completely run by gangs" and even though they had secured safe passage, "all it takes is one stupid gang member holding an AK-47 for one thing to go wrong".
On March 10, Mr Maalouf also posted that he was "going on another one of those trips". "If I die, thanks for watching what I've put out. If I live, all glory to God," he wrote on X.
By Friday, another YouTuber, Miles "Lord Miles" Routledge, claimed that he spoke to the kidnapped streamer. In a series of tweets, Mr Routledge said that Mr Maalouf was travelling with a fixer called Sean Roubens Jean Sacra, who was also kidnapped. "Arab has been kept in a cage in a place on the eastern outskirts of the Capital, Port-au-Prince," he said.
"Arab has stated that despite the hardships, he's going to come out with a great video after this, and he should be out in no time. Sean was actually offered to be let go, but he's a great guy and doesn't want to leave Arab on his own, so he has decided to stay," Mr Routledge added.
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Mr Routledge also criticised the US government and the State Department for failing to secure Mr Maalouf's release. He said they were "very hands-off on helping, even though Arab is a US citizen."
Meanwhile, in a statement to The Post, The State Department confirmed that it is "aware of reports of the kidnapping of a US citizen in Haiti" but would not provide any details. "The US Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas. "We reiterate our message to US citizens: Do not travel to Haiti," a spokesperson said.
