BEIRUT:
Liban Lait CEO Ahmad Zeidan, who was kidnapped in the Bekaa Valley Wednesday
has been released after four days in captivity.
The
60-year-old CEO of the country’s largest dairy farm was taken by four masked
gunmen as he was traveling with his driver, Wissam Wafiq Habbal, in a black
Volkswagen in the Bekaa’s Talia Valley. The kidnapping took place some 200
meters from the Liban Lait factory.
Prime
Minister Najib Mikati tweeted in response to the news Sunday morning.
“I
was truly relieved to learn [from] Lebanese Army, at 02:15am last [night], the
[good] news of the release of formerly kidnapped Lebanese citizen,” he tweeted.
A
source told The Daily Star that Habbal, Zeidan’s driver, had reported that the
abductors were “highly professional and knew when and where Zeidan would drive
by to his factory,” ant it was believed that they were seeking a ransom.
However,
LBC News reported Sunday that Zeidan was freed without a ransom, after the
abductors backed down following negotiations in which Parliament Speaker Nabih
Berri took a key role.
The
Bekaa has seen a spike in crime in recent years, including kidnappings carried
out by crime rings. Seven Estonian cyclists were abducted in March and were
freed on an empty Bekaa road after being held for four months in captivity.
A number of Syrian
dissidents who fled to Lebanon in the past nine months are suspected to have
been kidnapped.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Dec-11/156546-liban-lait-ceo-released-after-four-days-of-captivity.ashx
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