An alleged kidnapper arrested by security forces. (Credit: ISF)
BEIRUT — Security forces were able to free a kidnapped man from a location in Hay al-Sellom, Beirut's southern suburbs and arrest a man accused of kidnapping him. In a statement Saturday, the Internal Security Forces said a search continues to apprehend a second person believed to be involved in the crime.
"On July 31, 2023 … while the [kidnapped Syrian man] was heading from his residence to his workplace in the area of Aisha Bakkar, two unidentified individuals an automobile kidnapped him and took him to an unknown location,” the statement explained. "The Information Division was immediately tasked with investigating the kidnapping scene."
“As a result of the investigation, the division managed to identify one of the individuals involved in the operation who is Lebanese,” the statement added. "They promptly initiated procedures to determine his whereabouts and raided the places he frequented in the suburb, leading to the release of the kidnapped individual from the suspect's house."
“During questioning, the man confessed to his involvement, acknowledging that he collaborated with another Lebanese man in carrying out the kidnapping operation,'' the ISF statement said, reporting that the two suspects ''demanded a ransom from the abducted man's family to secure his release.”
The Information Division freeed the kidnapped individual but a second man was able to flee.
The car used in the kidnapping was seized, and legal proceedings were opened against the suspect, who was handed over to the competent authority based on the judiciary's order. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the second individual, and efforts to apprehend him are ongoing.
The Lebanese Army rescued a kidnapped Saudi citizen in May, freeing him from confinement near the Syrian-Lebanese border, and arrested his alleged kidnappers.
An Iraqi man kidnapped from Jounieh, Kesrouan governorate, in April was freed by the army two days after he was seized. A Syrian man was kidnapped in Aley the same month, shortly after his arrival in Lebanon from Dubai. Internal Security Forces later freed him.