Five young men arrested by police on suspicion of murder in Zahle, Bekaa, are seen in this photo released on April 20, 2023, by the Internal Security Forces (ISF). (Credit: the official ISF website)
BEIRUT — The Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced on Thursday evening that they had arrested five men aged between 21 and 25 for their alleged involvement in the murder of a man in Zahle, in the Lebanese Bekaa valley. One of the suspects was renting an apartment from the victim.
On April 16, the lifeless body of the victim was found in his bed in his house in Zahle, with a bullet hole in the chin, the ISF said in a statement. A preliminary investigation identified the five suspects.
The first three were arrested, and the other two turned themselves in to the authorities.
"Initially denying their connection to the murder, they finally admitted the facts after being confronted with the clues and evidence," according to the ISF statement.
The first individual, the tenant, reportedly confessed "to having informed accomplices of his plan": to enter the victim's home, under the pretext of wanting to buy weapons, a pistol and a rifle, and to rob him.
Then, according to the ISF statement, on March 14, 2023, they went to the victim's house and while he showed them a pistol that he wanted to sell, they chained him up and robbed the house. "A fight broke out and a pistol shot hit the victim's chin," the ISF added.
The culprits fled, threw the murder weapon into the Litani River, and hid the gun in a park in Taalbaya, a locality in the Zahle district, according to the ISF. The pistol and the rifle were found and seized, and the investigation is ongoing.