BAALBEK, Lebanon: A Kuwaiti national who had been kidnapped for more than two months was released Tuesday in return for a huge ransom, a source told The Daily Star.
Masfar al-Hajiri, kidnapped on Aug. 30 in the east Lebanon city of Baalbek, was released after his family paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars as a ransom, according to the source, who was following up on the matter.
The source stressed that the kidnappers had originally demanded a ransom of $1 million, which is why the negotiations took two months to be concluded.
The kidnappers handed over the man to Sheikh Bakr al-Rifai, the imam of Baalbek’s Ouzai Mosque. Rifai kept the man until General Security officers arrived to take him to his family, the source added.
A video allegedly showing the moment when Hajiri first met his family after his release went viral on social media Tuesday.
The man appeared coming out of a 4WD with tinted windows, similar to those used by General Security personnel.
Kidnap-for-ransom acts and car thefts in the Bekaa Valley have been on rise recently after initially dropping in light of a security plan launched by the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam in April.
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