BEIRUT: A day after the CEO of the country’s largest dairy farm was abducted in the Bekaa, politicians and religious leaders in the southern city of Sidon called on the Internal Security Forces to step up their efforts to locate and free him.Ahmad Zeidan, CEO of Liban Lait, was kidnapped in Bekaa’s Talia Valley Wednesday by four masked gunmen.

According to security sources, the kidnappers are likely seeking a ransom, but there was no word from the abductors Thursday, prompting Zeidan’s brother, Mohammad, and many of his employees at Liban Lait to issue a plea for his safety.

The security source told The Daily Star that Zeidan, who is in his 60s, suffers from diabetes and has problems with his blood pressure, for which he requires daily medication.

Speaking at a meeting in Sidon’s Dar al-Fatwa, Sheikh Salim Sousan denounced the kidnapping of Sidon-born Zeidan and urged the ISF to quickly free him and arrest the perpetrators.

The source also said that the ISF in coordination with the Lebanese Army has dispatched several units to Baalbek in an attempt to locate the kidnappers.

“According to the driver of Zeidan, who was not taken away by the abductors, the kidnappers were highly professional and knew when and where Zeidan would drive by to his factory,” the source added.

Zeidan was taken by the masked gunmen as he was traveling with his personal driver, Wissam Wafiq Habbal, in a black Volkswagen. The kidnapping took place some 200 meters before the Liban Lait factory.

During preliminary investigations Wednesday, Habbal told investigators that four masked gunmen dressed in black and driving a black Jeep Cherokee cut off the Volkswagen.

“Moments later they walked toward the Volkswagen and swiftly pulled Zeidan away after calling him by name,” said the source, adding that the abductors had been following Zeidan for a while. The Bekaa area has seen a sharp increase in crime. – The Daily Star