IS Frees Toufic Wehbi in Arsal for $50,000 Ransom
The abductee Toufic Wehbi was freed on Tuesday evening in the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal after a hefty ransom was paid to his kidnappers, media reports said.
"A $50,000 ransom was paid for the release of Toufic Wehbi," LBCI television said.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had told As Safir newspaper that the Islamic State group had taken Wehbi to the Syrian Qalamoun region near Lebanon's border and demanded a ransom to set him free.
The minister told the daily that he expected “positive results soon.”
His remarks came hours after Kataeb MP Elie Marouni expressed similar hopes about the return of the captive to his family.
He told the state-run National News Agency that Zahle MPs were exerting all their efforts for his safe return home.
Wehbi was kidnapped by four armed men while fixing a water filtration machine in the northeastern border town of Arsal last Wednesday.
Over the weekend, his family blocked several roads in the Bekaa Valley to protest his capture.
G.K./Y.R.
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