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FBI investigating concert promoter with alleged ties to kidnappings
The FBI's counter-terrorism team is investigating a local Lebanese concert promoter for allegedly being involved in kidnapping Syrians in Beirut, The Detroit News has learned.FBI agents are probing whether Dearborn resident Saeb Mokdad helped relatives abduct two dozen people in Lebanon last year, according to federal court records. The kidnappings were in retaliation for a Mokdad relative being taken hostage by Syrian rebels.The investigation was revealed in a search warrant that was inadvertently unsealed in federal court. The News obtained the search warrant before it was re-sealed by a federal judge. The kidnappings last summer sparked a wave of fear about violence in Syria spilling into Lebanon and prompted several Gulf Arab countries to warn residents against traveling to Lebanon. The tit-for-tat kidnappings between the Syrians and Mokdad's relatives have more in common with a fabled American feud than terrorism or war, one expert said. "If you wanted a good analogy, compare it to the Hatfields and McCoys," said Aram Nerguizian, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington D.C. "This has a lot more to do with criminality in Lebanon in ungoverned spaces." Posted by: tipper 2013-05-08 |
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