British Film Producer in Lebanon Feared Kidnaped

Chris Wenner, a free-lance British documentary producer, has been missing for 18 days and is feared kidnaped, a colleague reported today.

Wenner, 30, was last seen Nov. 29 when he left the Mayflower Hotel in Muslim West Beirut heading for the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon to shoot a feature film on the hashish trade in Lebanon, said Saeed Ashkar, a soundman for Rund Video News, a French documentary company.

He said that he and Wenner were working on the documentary on Lebanon’s lucrative hashish trade for Britain’s Channel 4 commercial network.

Missed Rendezvous

“We had a rendezvous to meet somewhere in the Bekaa two days later, on Dec. 1. I went there and was told he had never showed up,” said Ashkar, 31, a Lebanese.

“I’ve looked everywhere in the Bekaa, and I’ve been in touch with all parties. They all deny ever seeing him,” he said.

Ashkar said he and Wenner had been detained for 24 hours outside Beirut about a month ago by militiamen who warned them against pursuing the hashish story.

Wenner is the 13th Westerner currently missing in Lebanon.

Driving Volvo

Wenner, whose wife and 2-year-old daughter live in London, was driving Ashkar’s blue Volvo when he disappeared. He was alone in the car, his colleague said.

Nearly 40 foreigners have been kidnaped in Lebanon since March, 1984, a month after Muslim militias in West Beirut pushed out the Lebanese army and took control of the capital’s Muslim sector.

Most of the kidnap victims have been released, while four have been killed or reported slain. Six Americans, four Frenchmen, another Briton and an Italian remain missing.