Reports: Czechs Released after Deal to Transfer Fayad to Kiev
The release of five Czech citizens who were kidnapped in Lebanon last year came as part of a swap deal to set free a Lebanese-Ukrainian man held by the authorities in Prague, reports said Tuesday.
According to the reports, the Czech authorities approved to transfer Ali Taan Fayad, also known as Ali Amin, to Kiev despite a decision taken by a court in Prague to extradite him to the United States along with two Ivory Coast citizens.
The three men were arrested in Prague in April 2014 while trying to sell weapons to undercover U.S. law enforcement officials who pretended to be from a Colombian terrorist group.
In July 18, Fayad's Czech lawyer went missing in Lebanon together with four other Czechs and their Lebanese driver, who was identified by Lebanese media as Taan's relative.
Their car was found near a Lebanese army checkpoint in the eastern town of Kefraya.
But in a surprise development, the Czech Foreign Ministry said late Monday that the five men have been found alive and are in "satisfactory health condition."
The ministry said the authorities were taking steps to transport them home and planning to send a special plane to Lebanon for them.
No further details were immediately given because of an ongoing investigation.
G.K.
D.A.
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