BEIRUT: Seven Estonian tourists said a day after their release by their kidnappers in Lebanon that they were detained in Syria for part of their four-month kidnap ordeal, a development signaling a Syrian role in their abduction and their subsequent freedom.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel promised to reveal the mystery behind the abduction of the Estonians once the investigation was over.

Speaking to reporters at Tallinn airport after returning to their Baltic homeland Friday, the Estonians said that they were held by eight kidnappers armed with Kalashnikovs.

“We were held in three different secret locations by the eight terrorists, in both Lebanon and Syria. The big advantage was we were together, and that unity gave us the strength to believe we would see a happy end,” said Madis Paluoja, one of the kidnap victims.

“At one point we all lived in the same room with the eight kidnappers and their eight Kalashnikovs,” he added.

Less than 24 hours after the men were freed in Lebanon, a special Estonian Air plane carrying them landed in rainy Tallinn at dawn Friday after having flown to Beirut to collect them.

Besides Paluoja, the other freed men were Jaan Jagomagi, Kalev Kaosaar, Martin Metspalu, Andre Pukk, Priit Raistik and August Tillo.

The Estonians, in their 30s and 40s, were released Thursday morning, nearly four months after they were kidnapped at gunpoint by masked men on March 23 near the eastern Bekaa city of Zahle shortly after re-entering into Lebanon on bicycles from Syria.

“The Lebanese will eventually know, even after a period of time, the place where the seven Estonians were released,” Charbel told the Voice of Lebanon radio station Friday. “Secrecy in this framework is essential for investigation. The place is known to the security apparatuses but the information is left to the judiciary.”

Apparently responding to March 14 politicians’ criticism of the government’s absence from the release efforts, Charbel said French coordination with the Lebanese security forces was full on the release of the Estonians. “What happened was that the security forces did not approach the area where the kidnappers were,” he said.

Charbel had confirmed Thursday that Lebanese security forces were not involved in the release in order “not to complicate things.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese political sources did not rule out the possibility that the kidnapping and release of the Estonians were linked to the four-month-long popular uprising in Syria.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet had complained to senior Lebanese officials during his previous visit to Beirut that Syrian officials had refused to meet him to discuss the kidnapping, the sources said, adding that by allowing the French to play a positive role in securing the Estonians’ release, Damascus was hoping Paris would reduce its pressure on the Syrian regime in its handling of the uprising.

The seven Estonians met with relatives in private at Tallinn airport before speaking to reporters.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves saluted the “resilience and willpower” of his freed countrymen. He called President Michel Sleiman to thank him for the efforts made by Lebanon in order to help in the release of the seven Estonians, according to a statement from Baabda Palace.

The seven men appeared relaxed in Tallinn, sharing jokes.

“My next bike trip will be probably around the house under the watchful eyes of my wife,” Paluoja said.

But Kaosaar noted there were “tense moments” during their captivity, notably when their captors asked if they were Jews – or from Denmark, homeland of a cartoonist who sparked Muslim ire in 2005 in response to his caricature of the Prophet Mohammad.

Paet, who had spent the months since the kidnapping shuttling to and from Lebanon, made the round trip with the plane. “The investigation is not over, and we will cooperate with Lebanese authorities to find all the criminals involved with the kidnapping,” Paet said in Tallinn.

The case had been shrouded in mystery, but nine people, Lebanese and foreigners, were detained in Lebanon in connection with the kidnapping.

The freed men appeared to be in good health. Asked if they had been well-treated, Paet responded: “There is nothing human about being taken hostage.”

Estonia turned to fellow European Union members and NATO allies, notably France, for help because the former Soviet-ruled nation of 1.3 million has only a small diplomatic presence in the Middle East.

The abductors – believed to be a previously unknown group called Haraket Al-Nahda Wal-Islah (Movement for Renewal and Reform) – had reportedly demanded a ransom.

The cyclists had appealed for help in videos posted on the Internet in April and May. The first video was uploaded in the Syrian capital Damascus, investigators determined. In the videos, the men did not present any demands on behalf of their captors nor specify what country they were in. A third video was emailed to several of their relatives in June.

“We were not told what the kidnappers want and we have no information about them asking for money,” Paluoja said. “All the text we read in the videos was written for us.” – With AFP, additional reporting by Hassan Lakkis