(ZAHLE, LEBANON) — The brother of a Lebanese journalist based in Zahle, Lebanon has been kidnapped for ransom on Friday, according to LBCI TV reports.
“The abductors of the young man Khodr Farouq Darwish, whose car was found in Baalbek’s al-Taybeh, have called his family and asked for a $135,000 ransom,” the network said.
Earlier in the day, family members told the state-run National News Agency that Khodr, whose brother is LBC’s reporter Nayef Darwish, lost contact with the 30-year-old man on Thursday.
Darwish’s Jeep Grand Cherokee was found in the Baalbek town of al-Taybeh near the market, NNA said.
His father, Farouq, told the agency that his son was in contact with a woman and was heading to Baalbek on Thursday.
Darwish’s family members blocked the main road in Furzol, in the qada of Zahle, demanding that the state secure his release.
There has a been a rise in kidnappings in the Bekaa Valley over the last few years, with gangs increasingly taking advantage of the lack of stability due to the Syrian war to kidnap people and then demand a ransom.