Wael Abbas Questioned as Details Emerge on Conditions of Arrest

The ringleader of the network that abducted the seven Estonian tourists in March, Wael Abbas, was on Thursday being questioned by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch, judicial sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

The sources said Abbas was first questioned by the General Security Department and was then transferred to the Intelligence Branch.

After the interrogation of the Intelligence Branch, he will be referred to the military prosecutor, Judge Fadi Sawan, who is investigating the kidnapping of the Estonians.

But the National News Agency said Abbas was on Thursday still in the custody of General Security.

The seven Estonians were abducted in the eastern Bekaa Valley on March 23, hours after entering Lebanon from Syria on a bicycle tour and were held for nearly four months before being released on July 14.

Abbas was arrested on Wednesday. Media reports said he was seized as he tried to enter Syria on a forged passport.

But official sources said that Abbas escaped more than two weeks ago to Doha via Damascus by using the forged ID identifying his family name as al-Fliti hailing from the Bekaa town of Arsal.

Qatari authorities arrested him after discovering that his passport was forged and deported him to Syria where he was arrested by the Syrian General Security, they said.

The sources added that his family tried to mediate for his release in Syria to prevent the authorities there from handing him over to Lebanon. However, Abbas was transferred to Lebanon’s General Security based upon a protocol signed between the two countries.

According to An Nahar newspaper, Abbas is the leader of a six-member gang that kidnapped the Estonians at the expense of a bigger and more dangerous network.

His arrest raised the number of those executed the abduction to four. The other two remain out of sight.

Six suspects from the larger network are also in custody, An Nahar said although it stressed that the number of those who are at large is much higher.

Three of them have been killed in clashes with the Intelligence Branch. They are Kanan Yassine, Munir Jalloul and Darwish Khanjar.