Ahmad Shukr missing for ten days: Mossad, financial motives under investigation

Report by Lara El Hachem, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

About ten days have passed since the disappearance of retired Lebanese General Security officer Ahmad Shukr, and there is still no confirmed information about his whereabouts, raising questions about the latest developments in the investigation.

According to sources, Shukr vanished after leaving his car and getting into another vehicle that was waiting for him at the Saydet Zahle area, where he was allegedly lured under the pretext of inspecting a piece of land a wealthy individual wanted to purchase, through a friend of his, Ali Mrad, who is currently in Africa.

The car then drove toward Dhour Zahle, where it could no longer be tracked. This route leads to western Bekaa and from there to multiple border points with the occupied territories.

Sources also indicate that Shukr had been in contact with two individuals, later found to hold Swedish citizenship, using Lebanese phone numbers. One of them left the country on the same day Shukr disappeared via Beirut Airport, while the other’s whereabouts remain unknown, and it is suspected he crossed into the occupied territories.

Based on these leads and the precision of the operation, security agencies are considering the possibility of Mossad involvement in Shukr’s disappearance.

Some reports suggested that Israel might be interested in him because his late brother, Hassan Shukr, was reportedly part of the group that kidnapped Israeli pilot Ron Arad in 1986.

Ahmad Shukr’s brother, however, told LBCI that Hassan, who died fighting Israeli forces in the town of Meidoun in 1988, had no connection to the Arad kidnapping, and emphasized that Ahmad is a member of the General Security institution and that the family has no political party affiliations.

The second hypothesis under consideration by security agencies is a financial motive. No party has contacted the family for any negotiation or ransom so far, and the family is calling on authorities to intensify efforts to solve the mystery of Ahmad’s disappearance.