Abducted Syrians Found in Hawrtaala, Captors Chased in Brital
Security forces managed Wednesday to locate Syrian nationals Mohammed Ayman Bashir Ammar and Nour Jamil al-Hajj Qaddoura in the northern Bekaa town of Hawrtaala, after they were kidnapped five days ago on the Barelias-Bekaa highway.
A statement issued by the General Directorate of General Security said that “after search and investigations, a General Security unit managed to locate the two abductees, who were handed over to the relevant judicial authorities in order to unveil the case’s circumstances.”
Security forces are tracking down the kidnapers, the statement said.
Sources told Al-Jadeed television that the two Syrians were found “in the northern Bekaa town of Hawrtaala and they were kidnapped for financial reasons rather than political ones.”
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told state-run National News Agency: “We’re searching the (northern Bekaa) town of Brital for the abductors of the two Syrians and the freed pair will be handed over to General Security for repatriation.”
The two were kidnapped by three armed men on Friday after crossing the Syrian border into the Bekaa Valley.
The gunmen, in a Hyundai four-wheeler with tinted glass windows, intercepted a Jaguar in Barelias in central Bekaa and kidnapped the duo.
The Lebanese driver of the Jaguar, however, was not kidnapped and a bag containing $5,000 was not seized either, media reports said. The driver, Khalil Saleh al-Agha, was questioned by police.
Security forces are also interrogating the family members of Ammar and Qaddoura.
Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat has reported that the two Syrians were regular travelers to Lebanon before they were kidnapped. Qaddoura has a furniture company in Lebanon and Ammar works as an accountant in the firm, it said.
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