BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 13 (UPI) — Lebanese authorities arrested four members of an Australian television crew who were among nine people accused of plotting the kidnapping of two children.
Lebanese Internal Security said reporter Tara Brown of Australia’s Nine Network 60 Minutes program, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recorder David Ballment are being questioned in a plot to kidnap the two children of Australian Sally Faulkner in Beirut. Faulkner’s estranged husband, Ali el-Amien, took the children to Lebanon from Australia last year.
Five Australians — the Nine Network crew and Faulkner — two British nationals and two Lebanese nationals were arrested and are expected to formally face kidnapping-related charges, punishable by more than three years in jail. The alleged kidnap attempt occurred Wednesday and the children have since been returned to their father, a Lebanese citizen.
Lebanese authorities said they possess a signed statement from a member of the “recovery team” which grabbed the children. The statement indicates the Nine Network paid $115,000 for the involvement of a child recovery service in the abduction as well as video footage of the kidnapping, in which the face of a cameraman, presumably Williamson, is visible.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, owners of the Nine Network, did not corroborate any of those statements of evidence. The Nine Network denied its crew was connected to the recovery team which grabbed the children, saying the crew was only videotaping the incident when it occurred.
“Australian consular staff in Beirut are continuing to provide ongoing consular assistance. The Foreign Minister has maintained discussions with her counterpart minister [Gebran] Bassil regarding this case,” a statement by a spokesperson for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.
