BEIRUT: The captors of a Lebanese businessman who was abducted in north Lebanon late last week have demanded a ransom of $4 million dollars, security sources said Saturday.

Bassam Tali Tarabai, the owner of a towboat company in Tartus, west Syria, was kidnapped overnight Thursday in the north Lebanon, Batroun neighborhood of Basbina by a group of four armed men who drove him away in a tinted, four-by-four vehicle to an unknown location, the sources told The Daily Star.

Tarabai’s brother, Ghassan, was contacted overnight Friday by the kidnappers, who spoke with a Syrian accent, and demanded a ransom of $4 million, the sources added.