Looking into the kidnapping ifs fellow nationals, the Turun Sanomat, a Finnish news organization learned that the Yemeni authorities decided to close their investigation into the kidnapping of a Finish couple and their Austrian friend, Dominik Neubauer.
The trio was kidnapped in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a on December 2012 by a group of unknown armed men. They were later on sold out to al-Qaeda and moved to one of the group strongholds far form the capital.
While the government spared no efforts in trying to secure all three foreigners release, it was only Oman's intervention late April and its government payment of a ransom which broke the stand off and allowed negotiations to resume. On May 8 the trio was safely release and transported to Oman where their respective countries arrange for their repatriation.
Dominik Neubauer, the Austrian hostage appeared back in February 2013 in a video in which he made a heart-felt plea to its government and the Yemeni authorities, warning that he would be executed should the demands of his kidnappers be denied.
While the trio was freed, it was understood that Yemen would continue its probe into the incident as to shed some light onto the kidnapping and identify those responsible for its planning as well as its implementation.
The Yemen Post also received confirmation that the kidnapping case has been unofficially close by the Yemeni authorities, alongside other similar cold cases.
With very little information to go on and a slimmer chance that any investigation would ever amount to an arrest, let alone a conviction, Yemen's kidnapping case will be probably remained unsolved.
Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Elfgren of the National Bureau of Investigation told reporters that "investigations are still underway in Finland." He however declined to comment on the whether or not Yemen was still involved in the case.
“We are cooperating with the authorities. The primary responsibility for solving the case naturally lies with the Yemeni officials. We are trying to help them by collecting whatever information we can from Finland. That’s our job and the work is still continuing,” Elfgren said.