LBC television reported
Sunday that the key eyewitness, whose cooperation led to the detention of
former Information Minister Michel Samaha, was Milad Kfoury and he is presently
outside Lebanon because of concerns for his safety.
The report said that Kfoury
has been known to use two other names, Zohair Nahhas and Amjad Sourour, and
that he hails from the Lebanese village of Polonia located in the Metn
district.
Furthermore, LBC reported
that Kfoury established relations with different individuals and groups,
including Samaha and the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch.
In addition, he had
established his own security company that offered protection services for
Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi from 2005 until the third week of July 2012.
The report also said that
Kfroury had been working in the security sector since 1983 and “he had a good
relation with [late former minister] Elie Hobeiqa, but he was not [one of his
bodyguards].” Hobeiqa was killed in January 2002.
As for the process which led to Samaha’s arrest, LBC cited an unnamed source as saying: “Due to the relation that existed between [Kfoury] and Samaha, he contacted Kfoury in order to execute the [bombing] plan.”
As for the process which led to Samaha’s arrest, LBC cited an unnamed source as saying: “Due to the relation that existed between [Kfoury] and Samaha, he contacted Kfoury in order to execute the [bombing] plan.”
Samaha’s arrest was connected to a seizure of explosives that were to be used mostly in northern
Lebanon, a region of tensions linked to the Syrian conflict.
The source added that
“Kfroury was held aback when Samaha talked about explosions and for this reason
he went to the [ISF] Information Branch and [revealed the conversation he had
with the former minister].”
According to the source,
the head of the ISF Information Branch, Wissam al-Hassan, requested Kfoury to
follow up on the issue and “provided him with the means to record sound and
images.”
“Kfoury began to record his
meetings and [activities] with Samaha, [including the] operation of moving the
explosives from Samaha’s car [that was parked in the building where the former
minister lives in Ashrafieh] to Kfoury’s.”
Following his arrest,
several media reports said that Samaha confessed under interrogation that he
had transferred “explosives from Syria to Lebanon in order to carry out
bombings in North Lebanon, particularly in the area of Akkar, with Syria’s
knowledge.”
LBC cited another source as
saying that “Kfoury, who owns a house in Polonia, is outside Lebanon and the
security [agencies] do not want to talk about him a lot [since it is offering
him] protection after he had cooperated with it to reveal the crime before it
happened.”
Moreover, LBC cited another
source as saying that “Samaha’s confessions are very clear, and based on them
Judge Sami Sader [indicted] Samaha, Syrian official Ali Mamluk and [a] Syrian
Brigadier General [identified only by his first name] Adnan.”
On Saturday, Judge Sami Sader charged Samaha and two Syrian army officers with setting up an armed group to
incite sectarian strife through “terror attacks.”http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=427245#
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