From Was “Abducted” U.S. Soldier a Toy?:
“Our mujahideen … have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues,” said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement on a Web site monitored in Dubai. It threatened to kill him.But Liam Cusack, marketing coordinator for California-based Dragon Models USA, said the picture appeared to show a special forces operative figure the company had made for collectors.
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Cusack said the striking similarity between his company’s action figure, which was marketed under the name “Cody,” and the published picture, were pointed out to him early on Tuesday by an Arizona retailer.“I worked on the development of that figure so I had seen the look of that head before,” Cusack said. “We don’t want to be the ones to say that it is (a hoax) for sure. Because if there is a search and rescue, that needs to be done.”
Cusack, speaking from his office at City of Industry, California, noted the rifle being pointed at the figure in the photograph posted on the Web site also appeared to be the plastic M4 rifle included with the figure.