Tripoli, March 29: There is still no news on the fate of Salah Mesbahi, Director of Wireless Communications at the Ministry . . .[restrict]of the Interior, who was kidnapped in Tripoli last week. The abduction is not seen as political. It was announced yesterday that a ransom demand for LD 50,000 thousand dinars had been received and, according to a source at the ministry, negotiations are taking place with the kidnappers.
Officials at the ministry have said that this was not its first kidnapping incident. The driver and bodyguard for the Under-Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Faraj Al-Senussi, was abducted earlier. He was found and later released with the help of Libyana Telecom who tracked his mobile phone signal to a building in the Nufleen district. The source at the ministry stated, however, that officials then paid a ransom to Al-Sanusi’s kidnappers to secure his freedom.
With large numbers of armed groups in the country, kidnappings are now a growing menace. [/restrict]
