BEIRUT —
Lebanese authorities launched an
investigation Monday into the kidnapping at the weekend of a Saudi lured to the
country’s eastern region of Bekaa to buy a property, a judicial official said.
اضافة اعلان
The Bekaa public prosecutor instructed security
forces to “conduct investigations and gather information on his whereabouts,
which is likely the Al-Sharawneh neighborhood” on the outskirts of the city of
Baalbek, the official told AFP, asking not to be named.
Unrest and clashes between rival influential
families are common in Baalbek, where the Iran-backed
Shiite movement Hezbollah is dominant.
The army often conducts raids in the city, notably
in Al-Sharawneh, over cases of drug trafficking, theft, kidnapping, and other
crimes.
A “gang” lured the victim to Lebanon to buy property
and the man was taken directly to Baalbek upon landing in Beirut, the official
said, specifying that he was snatched on Sunday.
A ransom demand has not been issued but the Saudi
was likely taken “with the aim of financially extorting” him, he said.
In April, a gang kidnapped an Egyptian accountant in
Baalbek. He was rescued by the army after two weeks in captivity. On July 11, a
Saudi dissident living in Beirut’s southern suburbs was killed, and two of his
brothers were arrested in connection to the murder.
The latest kidnapping comes three months after
Riyadh announced the return of its ambassador to Beirut, following a diplomatic
crisis last year between Lebanon and
Arab states in the Gulf.
Riyadh also
suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon in April last year, saying
shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Beirut of inaction.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
