BEIRUT: The alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists who were released in July was charged Wednesday with plotting “terrorist acts” and bomb attacks on liquor stores in south Lebanon.
The state-commissioned judge at the Military Court, Ahmad Oweidat, charged Wael Abbas, already in police custody, with “forming an armed ring with the intent to commit crimes against people and property, undermine state authority, carry out terrorist acts, bomb liquor stores, steal cars, rob people at gunpoint and forge documents.”
Security sources said these crimes date back to a period before 2009.
Oweidat referred Abbas to Military Investigating Judge Fadi Sawan for further questioning.
The seven Estonians were abducted near the town of Zahle in the Bekaa Valley on March 23, 2011 by masked men after they had crossed the border from Syria by bicycle.
The men were released unharmed four months later on July 14, and said they had been held in Syria during part of their detention.
In November, Abbas, 29, a Lebanese national who hails from east Lebanon’s border town of Anjar, was also linked to the March 27 church bombing in Zahle, security sources told The Daily Star.
The blast outside Sayyidat al-Najat church, which caused damage but no injuries, came four days after the Estonians were kidnapped.