Kidnapping incidents that occur from time to time at the Lebanese-Syrian border raise fears of the growth and spread of this phenomenon, with the aim of obtaining a financial ransom.
The Internal Security Forces in Lebanon spared no effort to pursue these gangs, and as they announce from time to time the arrest of kidnapping groups in the country, they also announce the liberation of kidnapped persons near the Syrian-Lebanese border from their captors.
What’s in the details?
On Friday, the Internal Security Forces announced that many Syrians residing on Lebanese territory had been subjected to kidnappings at the border. She said that the kidnappers are demanding a ransom from the families of the kidnapped in exchange for their liberation, and that the kidnapped are subjected to beatings and torture, and some of them died at the hands of the kidnappers. Members of kidnapping networks lure their Syrian victims to the Lebanese-Syrian border in several ways, including through social media pages, especially the “TikTok” application, according to the Internal Security Forces in Lebanon.
Security warnings
In a warning statement issued on Friday, the Information Division of the Internal Security Forces revealed the details of the operations that take place as follows:
Members of these networks lure their victims by creating fake accounts through which they are deluded into providing them with entry visas to European Union countries. They are asked to go to the Lebanese-Syrian border to get their passports stamped, and upon their arrival at one of the points in the bordering Bekaa region, they are kidnapped and transferred to the Syrian interior, and a financial ransom is demanded from their relatives in exchange for their liberation. The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces warned Syrians residing on Lebanese territory against falling victim to being lured through the “Tik Tok” application, especially the fake account: “@ABOAAZAAM235”.
Kidnapping targets both women and men
Private security sources indicated to “Sky News Arabia” that “the Information Division of the Internal Security Forces had previously stopped gang members carrying out these operations.”
She added, “The kidnappings that Lebanon witnessed in the recent period targeted women as well as men, including Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, businessmen, and even relatives of Lebanese officials who were victims of kidnappings.”
And she continued, “The gangs lure the victim to transfer her to the regions of Chtoura and Zahle in the Bekaa Governorate, and from there to the border region of Hermel, north of the Bekaa.”
She explained that “the youth’s efforts to emigrate outside Lebanon facilitated kidnappings through advertisements on immigration.”
By the numbers
Statistics issued by Information International (statistical bulletin) show that “the beginning of 2022 recorded an increase in kidnapping incidents announced by the Internal Security Forces through its accounts.
The bulletin indicated that the security forces “detected 16 kidnapping incidents in February of the same year, i.e. (within one month), while in 2021 and in the same month one incident was recorded. The documented operations in 2020 of the same month amounted to 7 cases.”
The ransom is in dollars
One of the young men who were kidnapped in the western Bekaa region revealed to “Sky News Arabia” that the gang members demanded a financial ransom from his relatives in exchange for his release.
And the young man, who declined to reveal his name, continued: “I was tortured to expedite the payment of the financial ransom.”
He added, “The common denominator of these incidents is obtaining the financial ransom, which is estimated at thousands of dollars, as happened with a number of kidnapped people who were taken to the Bekaa region, where they were detained and assaulted.”
legally
The director of the Cedar Center for Legal Studies, lawyer Muhammad Sablouh, told Sky News Arabia that the Lebanese law stipulates in Article 569:
Temporary hard labor shall punish anyone who deprives another person of his personal freedom by kidnapping or any other means. The penalty becomes life imprisonment if the period of deprivation of liberty exceeds a month, or if the person deprived of his liberty is subjected to physical or moral torture. Likewise, if the crime is committed against an employee during the performance of his job or because of his affiliation with it. If the motives of the crime were sectarian or partisan, and if the perpetrator used his victim as a hostage to intimidate individuals, institutions or the state in order to extort money. The penalty is increased according to Article 257 if the crime results in the death of a person as a result of terror or any other cause related to the accident.
2023-08-05 06:32:48
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