[An Nahar] The kidnappers of Hussein Kamel Jaafar, who have taken him to the town of Yabroud in Syria, have asked for a one-million-dollar ransom, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday.Meanwhile, sources denied to LBCI television that Arsal Municipality head Ali al-Hujairi had headed to the Syrian town of Yabroud to negotiate with the kidnappers, noting that there are "nonstop efforts" to release the abductee.
NNA said the demand for ransom came during a phone conversation between the Jaafar clan and the man whose kidnapping led to a wave of sectarian abductions that started last Sunday.
Yabroud is a Syrian town located in Reef Damascus and lies near Lebanon's eastern border.
Later Thursday, the Jaafar clan released Khaled Ahmed al-Hujairi in the area of Sahlat al-May in Hermel after kidnapping him in Shaat in the Bekaa valley's north.
Al-Hujairi, who hails from the northeastern town of Arsal, contacted the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch which sent patrols to the area and took him to Hermel's police station.
NNA said gunmen in a black GMC had abducted al-Hujairi while he was riding his pickup truck.
His release came after Voice of Lebanon radio VDL (93.3) said that the Jaafar clan decided to stop the kidnappings and release three out of ten Arsal residents that the clan's members had abducted.