12-Year-Old Boy Released after 5-Day Kidnap Ordeal

A schoolboy, who was kidnapped last week in Beirut’s Ramlet al-Baida area, has been released but there was no official confirmation on Monday if his family paid any ransom.

Mohammed Awada, 12, was waiting for his school bus on Wednesday when four assailants in a Nissan Sunny with tinted windows abducted him.

Reports have said that the kidnappers had called his parents, asking for a $1 million ransom.

But it was not clear on Monday whether his father, a wealthy businessman, paid the ransom in exchange for his son's release. Police did not issue any statement.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said the boy was handed to his parents near Sin el-Fil at 4:00 am in return for a $130,000 ransom.

But the National News Agency put the amount at $100,000.

The kidnap-for-ransom phenomenon has recently increased and has been strongly criticized by officials from across the political spectrum.