Sat, 11 May, 2013 12:01:41 AM FTimes-STT Report, May 11
 Yemen for more than four months have been abducted by Atte and Leila Kaleva returned to Finland on Friday, 10 May 2013. The picture was taken immediately after landing at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Photo - Lehtikuva The Finnish couple of Leila and Atte Kaleva, released by abductors on Wednesday night in the Yemen-Oman border area, reached Finland on Friday.
The couple and their Austrian friend Dominik Neubauer were set free four and a half months into their abduction by al-Qaeda fighters from Sana'a, the capital city of Yemen, on December 21.
Kaleva, a military official, and Leila, an executive at Nestle Oil, left Vienna Airport accompanied by some Finnish government officials by a private plane and arrived at Helsinki Airport at around 2:00pm.
liberalized Finnish airplane entrusted to a private plane landed at Helsinki-Vantaa airport on the afternoon of Friday, 10 May 2013. Photo - Lehtikuva They left the airport immediately to avoid about two dozens of journalists awaiting their arrival but issued a statement later in which they said the abductors had treated them very well during the captivity.
Foreign ministry official Teemu Turunen at a press conference read out the statement.
Leila and Atte Kaleva said they were very happy back in their beloved country after their long captivity.
The couple also said the abductors had entertained them in a good manner and provided them with good food, water and medicine, if necessary.
‘Now we just want to relax with our dear ones without being disturbed in any way and that is why we are not interested to appear before the public,’ said the statement.
They also thanked the Finnish news media for the responsible role they had played during their confinement.
The defence ministry said the Army had tried to prevent Atte Kaleva from visiting Yemen, reported the Yle.
This was apparently a reference to the decision not to release details of their identities or ties to the Finnish Defence Forces and Nestle Oil, said the Yle report, adding that the couple did not believe that the abductors knew much about their professional backgrounds.
Finnish Ambassador to Riyadh Jarno Syrjälä (left) and Director of the situation, the Consular Affairs Unit Manager Teemu Turunen told the Yemen kidnapping case in the Foreign Ministry press conference in Helsinki on Friday, 10 May 2013. Photo - Lehtikuva The three abducted Europeans were handed over to the Omani authorities by a tribe at Hawf village, said Yemeni media reports and Finnish government sources.
The hostages were set free after the authorities of the neighbouring Oman had held negotiations with the abductors and paid them ransom, a senior Yemini security official told Reuters, reported STT.
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, however, rejected outright the report of paying ransom to the abductors.
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