Businessman Najib Youssef Freed after 6-Day Kidnap Ordeal
A wealthy businessman kidnapped on Tuesday in the Tyre region was released on Sunday evening, a media report said.
“Abductee Najib Youssef has been released and handed over to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau in Beirut,” al-Jadeed television reported.
It was not immediately clear if a ransom had been paid to the kidnappers.
The National News Agency reported on Wednesday that the abductors demanded a 3-million-dollar ransom in return for freeing the man.
NNA said that Youssef, 66, was heading on Tuesday afternoon from his house in Bourj al-Shamali in his four-wheel Cadillac to a land he owns in Abou Aswad when several gunmen took him away.
The armed men, who were in another vehicle, left his Cadillac behind.
They contacted his son around 10:00 pm to ask for a ransom, NNA said without specifying the amount. But Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said the kidnappers called Youssef's son from a payphone in Beirut asking for 3 million dollars.
The abductee, who resides abroad and hails from the town of Qadmous, is the agent of Renault and BMW in Tyre, it said.
The kidnapping of businessmen has become common in Lebanon, and many cases are resolved either after payment of a ransom or the arrest of the suspects.
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