Off the wire
• Thai princess visits Confucius Institute in Kyrgyzstan  • Feature: Kenya's elderly soldier on despite ravages of diabetes  • Dutch referendum results show distrust in Ukraine-EU treaty: Russia  • 54 IS militants killed as Iraqi forces gain ground in IS-held town  • Interview: China to continue producing extraordinary literature, says Italian editor  • Spanish treasury places 3.779 bln euros worth of bonds on market  • News Analysis: Bangladeshi experts hail China's economic mettle amid structural shift  • Macedonian main opposition party says to boycott June 5 elections  • France enlarges trade gap in February on high imports  • China, Southeast Asian countries to improve anti-terror cooperation  
You are here: 　 Home

Lebanese security forces free kidnapped siblings

Xinhua, April 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) said Thursday that a unit from the Intelligence Branch was able to free the two children kidnapped on Wednesday.

The ISF said in a statement that "four crews of an Australian television were arrested by the Intelligence Branch on suspicion of involvement in the abduction of Lahala al-Amine, 6, and her four-year-old brother Nouh in Beirut's south eastern town of Hadath as well as the Australian mother of the siblings."

According to the National News Agency (NNA), three gunmen, who were riding a silver Hyundai, abducted Lahala and Nouh while they were waiting for their school bus with their grandmother on the Hadath-Shweifat road.

The kidnappers took away the children after hitting their grandma on the head, it said, adding that the abductors were filming the operation.

The ISF investigation showed that the mother of the kids identified by the Australian media as Sally Faulkner was involved in the kidnapping.

Faulkner claimed that her children's Lebanese father took them for a holiday and then allegedly refused to return them to Australia.

Australia's Channel Nine said that the woman made an agreement with "60 Minutes program" crew to come and help her recover her children from Lebanon.

The crew and the woman are held with the ISF for the investigation. Endit