Beirut Gunmen Seize 2 Swedes by Mistake, Then Release Them
Gunmen today seized two Swedish journalists and then released them, saying they mistook the two for West Germans, the Swedish ambassador said.
Ambassador Ingmar Stjernberg told the Associated Press by telephone that the two Swedes, Folke Ryden and Andre Lada of Sweden’s Channel 2 television, are safe at West Beirut’s Summerland Hotel after the incident.
The two had just flown in from Paris and were heading from the airport to the hotel when gunmen intercepted their taxi on the airport highway about 4:30 p.m and seized them, the ambassador said.
“They were let go when the gunmen discovered that they were not West Germans,” he said.
The kidnapers apparently abducted the two in retaliation for two Lebanese Hamadi brothers being held in West Germany. A third Hamadi brother is suspected as the mastermind behind the abduction of two German businessman in Beirut last year.
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