Man Robbed after Brief Kidnap in Baalbek as Family of 2 Abductees Blocks Road

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Lebanese citizen Joseph George Ghanem, 50, was briefly abducted on Saturday in the Bekaa city of Baalbek, state-run National News Agency reported.

Ghanem, the representative of the Bush Hardware Company in the Bekaa, was freed around an hour from his abduction after the armed kidnappers robbed him of $4,000, a credit card and his personal cellphone, NNA said.

He was nabbed during his work outside the Jabaq stores in Baalbek, according to the agency.

Meanwhile, relatives of Khaled and Mustafa al-Hujeiri, who were abducted overnight in Bekaa's Taalbaya, blocked the Taalbaya-Saadnayel highway in protest at their kidnap.

The road was reopened later on Saturday.

A relative of the two men told LBCI TV that the kidnappers arrived at their house in Taalbaya in three black SUVs and claimed to be State Security agents.

“The family stressed that the abduction came in response to the death of a soldier from the Hamiyeh family at the hands of al-Nusra Front,” LBCI said, referring to Lebanese army soldier Mohammed Hamiyeh, who was executed by the Qaida-linked group.

Hamiyeh was one of three captive troops murdered by Nusra and the Islamic State group after their abduction along with dozens of security personnel during the deadly August clashes in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.

Khaled al-Hujeiri's sister told LBCI that the family was contacted in the wake of Hamiyeh's execution by individuals who advised them to hide her brother “because members of the Hamiyeh family want to kidnap him.”

She said they received another phone call around two weeks later.

“We are not an easy prey and we can break the hand of those who attack us. I'm addressing these remarks to the Hamiyeh family and we know how to take our right with our own hands,” a brother of Khaled, who appeared in LBCI's report, threatened.

Y.R.

Comments 6
Thumb Hayek.Feghali.Abdelatif 18 October 2014, 18:43

Come on, those are individual acts nothing more. The fact they are usually committed by Hezballo supporters is unimportant and insignificant.
Of course if one's not a Hezballo supporter one's automatically a supporter of ISIL, thus goes the divine turbans' logic. Turban wrapped much too tight. Blood flow to alleged brain withing turbaned head, weak to absent.

Default-user-icon just watch (Guest) 18 October 2014, 19:42

There is an interesting phenomena here that I cannot help but notice and that I'm sure many of you have as well, when the so called flame thrower is away most other M8 spammers are also away. Following his first post there is a deluge of them posting like their life depended on it. I wonder if they are all bused in like little mentally handicapped children going to the lollipop factory or do they pile into one clown car and come over together, the contents of most of their posts suggests the later. Or just maybe the spam squad are really just the Johnny punch-card AKA flame thrower.

Thumb ex-fpm 18 October 2014, 20:23

ironic, HA claims it has no control over these terrorists, yet all of them are members of HA. A colleague of mine goes to his village in the Baalbek area and he has to go through at least 8 checkpoints for HA before he gets to his village. Yet, these criminals in Brital and other places are free to roam and enjoy impunity.

Missing people-power 18 October 2014, 22:34

Get rich quick scheme: Open up a dealership selling black SUV's to Houthis

Thumb EagleDawn 18 October 2014, 22:47

lol, the Houthis don't buy them; they steal them.

Thumb Hayek.Feghali.Abdelatif 19 October 2014, 01:47

It's a fact, more car come out of Brital than Detroit.
Of course unlike Detroit, Brital does not have an automotive industry per se. Every single car that come out of there was pre-owned until one day it vanished only to reappear in Brital. There after a little clever makeup it's repurposed without the knowledge or consent of the legal owner's. Some lucky owners sometimes get a phone call offering them a chance to reclaim their lost possession for a fee.