Police have arrested four relatives of the Afghan wife of a German national abducted at the weekend, and believe they know where he is being held, a spokesman said Thursday.Carpenter Harald Kleber, 42, was kidnapped on Sunday in the western province of Herat. “Four relatives of the wife of the German have been arrested in relation to the incident as suspects,” a spokesman for the Herat provincial police, Nur Khan Nikzad, told AFP. The Afghan trade minister, Amin Farhang, also told German media that four relatives of wife of the former aid worker were in custody.
Farhang ruled out the possibility his abduction could have been the work of Taliban, even though the group has been responsible for a wave of kidnappings of foreigners in the war-torn country. Nikzad said authorities believed they knew where the German was being held. He declined to give further details. Kleber worked for a humanitarian organisation in Herat between 2003 and 2004 and then stayed in the country.