The Daily Star - Search is on for kidnapped foreigners - March 24, 2011

Seven Estonian bikers abducted in Zahle after cycling across Syrian border hours earlier
By Wassim Mroueh
Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 24, 2011

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army launched a dragnet for seven Estonians who were kidnapped in the central Bekaa Valley Wednesday.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that the army and the Internal Security Forces raided several places in the mountainous areas of the village of Kfar Zabad and nearby areas, where media reports say that that the abducted Estonians were taken.

Locals said that individuals in two white vans and a dark Mercedes 300 with no license plates intercepted the Europeans, who were cycling near the industrial area of Zahle, a few hours after they entered Lebanon from Syria via the Masnaa border crossing.

The captors forced the Estonians into the vehicles and drove toward Kfar Zabad, according to security sources.

A military base belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)-General Command, a Palestinian faction headed by Ahmad Jibril, is located in the area.

The PFLP issued a statement in which it strongly denied the Europeans were in its custody. It expressed its readiness to make efforts and cooperate “without hesitation or reservation” with the army. The PFLP condemned the abduction and urged media outlets to be precise in their reports.

Estonia’s consul in Lebanon, Samih Qamouh, confirmed to The Daily Star that seven Estonians had gone missing. “I will head now to Zahle to get information about their fate,” he said.

While motivations were not immediately known, a senior security source expressed fears to The Daily Star that the abduction could be related to threats made by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi against Western civilians in retaliation for airstrikes the Western coalition had been carrying out against Gadhafi’s forces since Saturday.

The source said that the fact that the Estonians were kidnapped a few hours after entering Lebanon to take part in a circus indicated that they were under surveillance while in Syria.

General Prosecutor Said Mirza said that judicial and security authorities have launched searches and investigations into the incident, based on the available preliminary information.

The bicycles and belongings of the captives, whom the NNA said were all males, were found by security personnel at the scene of the kidnapping.

Lebanon saw a wave of kidnappings which targeted Western nationals in the mid-1980s. Last September, two Polish tourists were briefly abducted. –The Daily Star