By DPA
Tehran : Police have confirmed that a Belgian couple has been kidnapped by a notorious gang of bandits in the city of Fahraj in southeastern Iran.
A police spokesman told Fars news agency that the couple was abducted by the criminal band led by Ismael Shahbakhsh, who in return of their safe release demanded the release of Shahbakhsh’s brother from a local prison.
Police were searching for two Belgian tourists who have been missing since Saturday.
The young married couple was travelling by car from Kerman province to neighbouring Sistan-Beluchistan province, which has seen several kidnappings in recent years.
A local official in Bam in Kerman said that Iranian police were searching for the couple, who are believed to have been kidnapped by local armed bandits.
In 2003, two Germans and an Irish citizen were abducted by such bandit groups during a cycling trip near Zahedan but released after one month. It was unclear at that time whether ransom was paid.
The bandits in the area, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, are usually also involved in drug-trafficking and use kidnapping operations in attempts to force the release of their members from prison.