BEIRUT: The mastermind behind the abduction of seven Estonian tourists two years ago and a series of other abductions, including of foreign journalists, was arrested over the weekend in east Lebanon, the police said in a statement Thursday.
The man – who security sources identified as Hussein Hujeiri – was apprehended in a mountainous are near the Baalbek village of Ras Baalbek Sunday night by a special unit from the ISF Information Branch in coordination with the relevant judiciary, the ISF said in a statement.
“In light of the kidnapping of seven Estonians in the Bekaa on March 23, 2011, and an investigation carried out by the Information Branch that led to the arrest of most of those involved in the kidnapping, the mastermind of the operation was identified as Lebanese H.A. H., born on 1983,” it said.
The statement added that the ISF was able to prove Hujeiri headed the group that ordered the kidnapping of the seven Europeans upon instructions from an official in Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi wing.
It said the suspect held the hostages in several places on the outskirts of the Bekaa Valley town of Arsal.
The police also said the Lebanese national had ordered the kidnapping of other foreigners, particularly after a sizeable ransom was paid in return for the release of the Estonians on July 2011.
The statement said that on Sept. 10, 2011, Hujeiri traded fire with an ISF patrol that tried to arrest him in Arsal and then later crossed into Syria after suffering wounds.
The group which Hujeri headed also ambushed an Information Branch patrol in Bekaa on Sept. 16 of the same year, killing First Serg. Elias Nasrallah and wounding another first sergeant.
The statement added that the detainee was involved in the kidnapping of three BBC journalists and transferring them to Syria where they were later released.
He also played a direct role in the March 2013 kidnapping of Hussein Jaafar.
Jaafar’s abduction on the outskirts of Arsal triggered tit-for-tat kidnappings between his clan and residents of Arsal. Jaafar was released in April in an exchange of captives.
The statement said the Information Branch had failed on several occasions to arrest Hujeiri after spotting him on Lebanese territories over the past year and a half.
President Michel Sleiman congratulated the ISF for arresting Hujeiri, calling for “the arrest of all the wanted for assaulting the Internal Security Forces in Arsal and Beddawi.”
An ISF member was killed Sunday during a crackdown on illegal construction in Beddawi, north Lebanon.
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02/05/2013
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