Beirut, March 30: A gang of Lebanese and Syrian nationals was behind the abduction of the seven Estonian cyclists in the Bekaa Valley a week ago and security forces are conducting extensive search operations to arrest them, a high ranking security source told The Daily Star Tuesday.
“The operation has reached a decisive stage in which the security forces are trying to arrest the kidnappers and at the same time trying to ensure the safety of [those] kidnaped,” said the source “The operation is now confined to a particular location in the western Bekaa,” the source added. But the location is a geographically difficult terrain, he said.
The police raids reportedly began overnight close to the Syrian border but the suspects managed to escape the original altercation. The search is now ongoing and thought to be confined to the Majdel Anjar and Masnaa areas.
At least one police officer was wounded early Tuesday after suspects behind the kidnapping opened fire on security forces in the eastern Bekaa.
The source stressed that attempts by authorities to ensure the safety of the Estonians indicated that security forces were aware of their location and considered the tourists to be still alive.
The culprits are thought to comprise of Lebanese and Syrian nationals, with various security sources identifying Darwish Khanjar, a Lebanese fugitive who heads a gang involved in criminal and smuggling activities, as the head of the operation.
The seven cyclists went missing in Zahle last Wednesday shortly after entering Lebanon from Syria. Security sources have said that the kidnapping might be linked to Sunday’s bombing of a Syriac Orthodox Church in Zahle, with the bombing being staged to confuse investigations.
The ISF has formed “a crisis cell to follow up on the dossier,” ISF director general Gen. Ashraf Rifi told the National News Agency Tuesday. Rifi also confirmed the Sunday arrest of three suspects, held in connection with supplying the transportation vehicles used in the kidnapping.
The detentions are said to have given authorities the break in the case and detainees are alleged to have provided hints about the whereabouts of the missing tourists.
The motive behind the kidnappings remains unconfirmed but suspicion is mounting that the act could have been politically motivated, with leaked investigation reports noting that the gang responsible for the kidnapping executed the operation for a third party. The identified suspects “act on their own but are also in the pay of others,” an unidentified security source told AFP. This raises the possibility that there were political motives for the kidnapping, media reports said.
The Bekaa Security Council, chaired by Governor Antoine Sleiman, held meetings Tuesday to discuss the kidnappings. The council urged all Bekaa municipalities to intensify police patrols and install close-circuit cameras in sensitive areas to monitor suspicious activity.
——–Agencies