Big search in Libya after Olympic boss is abducted

LIBYA was last night putting out a police dragnet to find the kidnapped president of its Olympic committee, Nabi Elalem, who was abducted by gunmen in Tripoli on Sunday.

In an attempt to free him in time for him to fly to London for the opening ceremony, police units were put on alert throughout the country, and deputy chairman of the ruling National Transitional Council, Mustafa Al-Houni, promised swift action.

“We are now clearly coming close to securing the release of him by the kidnappers,” he said.

The abduction has shocked and mystified Libyans, in part because of its brazen nature. Mr Elalem was captured while in a car driving through central Tripoli in broad daylight.

Two jeeps filled with eight or nine men in army fatigues reportedly cut him off, the men leaping out to surround his car.

Mr Elalem was asked “politely” to go with the men and was not assaulted. He was allowed to take with him his computer and mobile phone.

Mr Elalem, who served as the head of the Libyan Football Association under Colonel Gaddafi, is known to have been friends with Gaddafi’s son, Mohammed, who was Mr Elalem’s predecessor as the Libyan Olympic Committee president.

Libyan officials last night said that despite their combat fatigues, the kidnappers were not members of the armed forces, deepening the mystery of who might be holding him.

The abduction means Libya’s small teams for the Olympics and the Paralympics will depart for Britain without their chief, but no motive has been given for the kidnapping, and no ransom demand made public.

Foreign Secretary William Hague, visiting Tripoli, spoke of his own “concern” for Mr Elalem’s safety.