Freed Boy Tells of His Kidnapping “Adventure” in Tight-Fitting Chains with Roasted Chicken for Lunch
14-year-old Amin Jihad Khansa who has been released after being held by kidnappers demanding $1.5 million ransom has spoken about his "adventure."
Police arrested the kidnappers after they managed to free the boy, who was abducted while waiting for a school bus outside his house in Beirut”s Shatilla – airport highway district.
Khansa said three men in a dark blue Cherokee Jeep approached him as he waited for the bus. One of them, he said, stepped out and pushed him roughly into the jeep.
"Seconds later I was blindfolded and my hands were tied with scotch tape," the boy said. "They took me to an apartment I could not tell where."
"When I got there, they made me lie on a bed, promising to release me if I behaved well," Khansa went on to say.
"I remained silent for two hours. Then they came back and tied me up to the bed and wrapped metal chains around my neck so I wouldn”t try to move. That was during the first day of my kidnapping.
"The second day, they removed the scotch tape and tied my hands in tight-fitting chains. They asked me to give them my parents” telephone numbers. I did after taking their word that they would bring my parents to see me," he said.
Khansa said he was well treated, adding that he was not beaten or tortured.
"They provided me jam sandwiches and roasted chicken," Khansa said.
Security forces managed to free Khansa at dawn Thursday after tracking down the kidnappers.
Police raided the first-floor apartment in Dhour Aley and freed Khansa after tracking down the kidnappers.
The mastermind of the kidnappers was identified as Abdul Nasser Hassan al-Miqdad, 53, owner of the gas station next to Khansa”s house near Shatilla roundabout on the airport highway.
Head of the southern suburbs municipalities Mohammed al-Khansa said two of the kidnappers, from al-Ahmed family, were Khansa”s neighbors. A third kidnapper was from the Sheikho family, he added.
Khansa said the kidnappers suffered financial problems "this is why they resorted to the easy way of getting money."