Unidentified men kidnap Beirut teenager, demand 1.5 million dollars
Beirut - A 14-year-old Lebanese student has been kidnapped in Beirut with his captors demanding ransom of 1.5 million dollars, local television networks reported Tuesday.
Amin Jihad al-Khansa was abducted when he was waiting his school bus in the morning outside his house near the Beirut International airport highway district.
Reports said Khansa's parents were not aware of the kidnapping until they received a call from an anonymous man, demanding the ransom.
The kidnapper threatened with the words "or else" if the ransom was not paid.
Lebanese police later determined that the anonymous caller used a public telephone booth in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a hotbed of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, to make his call.
Lebanese police believe that the kidnappers were after money, because Khansaa's father is a businessman. The kidnapped youth reportedly is a Shiite. (dpa)
