Lebanese minister says Saudi citizen kidnapped in Beirut

BEIRUT, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A Saudi Arabian citizen was kidnapped in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Sunday, Lebanese caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi said Monday.

Mawlawi said in a tweet that Lebanon will work "on liberating any citizens who are exposed to any harm on Lebanese soil."

"What happened affects Lebanon's relationship with its brothers, and the perpetrators will be punished harshly," he noted.

The Saudi man was kidnapped from a neighborhood close to the airport road in Beirut, the al-Jadeed TV reported.

The man works for Saudi Airlines in Beirut and the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 400,000 U.S. dollars for his release in a phone call from the southern suburbs of Beirut, news outlet L'Orient Today reported in the evening, quoting the Saudi newspaper Okaz.

The Saudi embassy in Lebanon announced in a statement that it had received a report from the family of a citizen that they lost contact with him at dawn on Sunday. Staff members of the embassy were instructed not to go out to streets.