Haitian police spokesman Gary Desrosiers reported on Thursday the release of 12 people from the United States and Canada, members of a religious group, who had been kidnapped by a criminal gang since October.
Seventeen members of the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries group were captured two months ago by the 400 Mawozo gang, which controls the Ganthier commune in the Port-au-Prince suburb.
Five of them had already been released.
"We glorify God for the answer to prayer: the remaining 12 hostages are free! Join us in praising God that our seventeen loved ones are now safe," Christian Aid Ministries said in a statement.
The group had previously noted that among those abducted were 16 US citizens and one Canadian: six men, six women and five children.
Haitian authorities claimed that the group's leader was demanding $ 1 million per hostage, for a total of $ 17 million.
In a video circulating on social networks, which according to a US official seems legitimate, the hostages were threatened to be killed if the ransom request was not fulfilled.
