US YouTuber YourFellowArab tries to meet Haiti gang leader ‘Barbecue’, gets kidnapped

American YouTuber Addison Pierre Maalouf, known in the world of social media as YourFellowArab or just “Arab", was kidnapped in Haiti by one of the gangs that have become the country's de facto rulers.

The YouTuber was kidnapped while he was trying to get an interview with the country's most notorious gang leader'Barbecue'.

Maalouf had travelled from his home in Atlanta and reached to get the interview of Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, who is the head of the notorious G9 Family and Allies gang which has taken over the government, as per Haiti 24.net.

However, just 24 hours after he reached the country, the members of the 400 Mawozo gang kidnapped Maalouf and a Haitian colleague on March 14.

According to the Haitian outlet reports, the man has been kept for a $600,000 ransom, and although $40,000 has already been given to them, the notorious gang is asking for a large sum of money to release Maalouf.

YouTuber says 'If I die...'

After the news of the disappearance of the YouTuber circulated online on Thursday (Mar 28), his fellow streamer Lalem confirmed that the gang had indeed taken his friend hostage.

“Tried keeping it private for two weeks, but it’s getting out everywhere now,” said Lalem, in a post on X.

“Yes, Arab has been kidnapped in Haiti and we’re working on getting him out,” he added, promising, “he’ll be out soon.”

He also shared the last video which was posted by Maalouf online in which he was showing his viewers a hotel in Haiti and informing them about the dangers looming in the country.

He further said, in the video, that he and his crew wanted to travel to the capital city of Port-au-Prince but they were waiting till the early morning hours so that they could arrive in the sunlight.

Maalouf further emphasised 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, he hadposted that he was “going on another one of those trips.”

Watch:Haiti government declares state of emergency as violence escalates

“If I die, thanks for watching what I’ve put out,” he shared on X. “If I live, all glory to God," he added.

Meanwhile, another YouTuber, Miles “Lord Miles” Routledge said that he has directly spoken with Maalouf using his kidnappers’ phone.

He said that Maalouf reached the country with “fixer” Sean Roubens Jean Sacra to shoot the ongoing riots in Haiti. “Arab has been kept in a cage in a place on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. His location is known," Routledge wrote.

He added that an attempt was made to pay the ransom, “but it went wrong and truthfully everyone was out of their depths to help Arab.”

(With inputs from agencies)