Czech tourists missing in Lebanon believed kidnapped

BEIRUT: -- Security forces have yet to find any clues indicating where the five Czech tourists who disappeared in east Lebanon Saturday might be, but preliminary information suggests the incident was a kidnapping.

The driver of the van in which the tourists were in when they disappeared has been confirmed to be the brother of a Lebanese man held by authorities in the Czech Republic.

According to a security source, the man driving the vehicle was Saeb Mounir Fayyad, the brother of Ali Fayyad, a Lebanese citizen who was arrested in the Czech capital of Prague last year on terrorism and drug trafficking charges, and is being sought for extradition by U.S. authorities.

Saturdays reports had stated that Saebs family name was Taan and that he merely came from the same village as Fayyad, which is Al-Ansar located in south Lebanon.

However, a local official in Al-Ansar explained Sunday that the full family name was Fayad-Taan, which led to the medias confusion over the link between the two men. He confirmed that Saeb and Ali Fayad were brothers, but did not comment on the incident.

Media reports said security cameras were being examined to find out the direction in which the five tourists and the driver went after the car was abandoned 300 meters passed a military checkpoint at dawn in the West Bekaa town of Kefraya.

The Fayyad family, which has held protests earlier this year outside the U.S. and Czech embassies calling for Alis release, was not available for comment.

Full story: http://www.eturbonews.com/61599/czech-tourists-missing-lebanon-believed-kidnapped

-- eTN 2015-07-20

The Fayyad family, which has held protests earlier this year outside the U.S. and Czech embassies calling for Alis release, was not available for comment.

Well to be fair they were probably pretty busy catering for 5 newly arrived house guests.

Tourist in Lebanon, oh well, guess a kidnapping is not extremely surprising is it ... ?

One born every minute - some people still go to Tunisia ...

Canceled Czechs, perhaps?