Lebanese Journalist's Brother Kidnapped for Ransom
The brother of a Lebanese journalist based in the eastern city of Zahle has been kidnapped for ransom, LBCI TV reported on Friday.
"The abductors of the young man Khodr Farouq Darwish, whose car was found in Baalbek's al-Taybeh, have called his family and asked for a $135,000 ransom," the TV network said.
Earlier in the day, family members told the state-run National News Agency that Khodr, whose brother is LBCI's reporter Nayef Darwish, lost contact with the 30-year-old man on Thursday.
Darwish's car was found in the Baalbek town of al-Taybeh near the market, NNA said.
His father, Farouq, told the agency that his son was in contact with a woman and was heading to Baalbek on Thursday.
Kidnappings in return for ransom have risen more than seven-fold in an unlikely knock-on effect from Syria's civil war. Security officials say gangs who once made their money smuggling fuel and contraband through the porous Syria-Lebanon border have watched their trade wither because of the violence, so they are turning to kidnapping to make a profit.
G.K./Y.R.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/148800 |