U.S. contractor beaten and illegally detained in Afghanistan - Afghan Deputy AG's office requests $2.4 million ransom

From WAVY News:

A local contractor working on a project in Afghanistan was been beaten and detained Wednesday in Kabul.

David Gordon, a diesel mechanic for Tamerlane Global Services, Inc. based in Reston, Va., was arrested by local police officers and imprisoned without charges by orders of the Afghan Deputy Attorney General's Office.

The office is asking for $2.4 million in exchange for Gordon's release...

"He has been beaten, he has been slashed. We know he has had to get stitches, he has had some internal bleeding issues as well," Tamerlane CEO Jim O'Brien said.

Gordon was working on a project for the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, tracking trucks delivering fuels to military bases in Afghanistan.

"[Gordon] was arbitrarily thrown into prison without charge," O'Brien said Thursday. "We believe this involves a business dispute that was currently in the federal courts in the U.S., one that is going well for Tamerlane, and not so well for the Afghan parties.”

From the Virginia Pilot:

Gordon, 38, is a contractor for Northern Virginia-based Tamerlane, working to stop the theft of fuel in Afghanistan. O'Brien said he learned of the incident from other workers and sent attorneys to check on Gordon in jail.

"They saw him crumpled in his cell with 12 other Afghans," O'Brien said...