Charbel: Security Agencies Have All Info on Abduction of Estonians
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Friday that the seven Estonians were not held hostage at the Taybeh village following their kidnapping in March, but they were released there.
He told Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio station that the Lebanese will “be informed about the details of the release operation later on… for the safety of the investigation.”
Media reports have said that “the group was released Thursday morning to a French delegation in the eastern village of Ersal,” along the Syrian-Lebanese border.
“The security apparatuses have obtained all the necessary information,” Charbel stressed.
He noted that the Lebanese security agencies were in a full state of “readiness” and “coordinated with the kidnappers of the Estonians.”
However, Charbel confirmed that the Lebanese security forces “didn’t get near the area due to their (kidnappers) request.”
The men, in their 30s and early 40s, were kidnapped at gunpoint on March 23 while on a cycling holiday in the eastern Bekaa Valley, after arriving from Syria.
Concerning appointments at posts in state institutions, the minister denied that there are any disputes.
“President Michel Suleiman and PM Najib Miqati followed the principle of (putting) the right man in the right place,” Charbel said.
He told VDL that he had no close relationship with Major-General Abbas Ibrahim, who is a candidate to the position of director-general of the General Security Department.
Charbel said: “I will meet him before signing the decree of his appointment.”
The interior minister added that there was a dispute “linked to the sect of the position, but it was solved. And I have no problem with any name.”
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