Army: Estonian cyclists abducted in Lebanon are released

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- Seven Estonian cyclists kidnapped in northern Lebanon in March were released Thursday, the Lebanese Army said.

All seven were in good health and will be taken to Beirut, the army said.

They were found in the Bekaa Valley, the same area where they were abducted March 23.

Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told the LBC channel that 9 people implicated in the abduction of the Estonians have been arrested so far. They include Lebanese suspects and people of other nationalities, he said.

Officials did not say whether a ransom was paid.

"The main thing now is for our seven fellow countrymen to get home to their families and loved ones as quickly as possible," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said.

The men were abducted by "local criminals" in the Bekaa Valley as they bicycled into northeastern Lebanon from Syria, police told CNN earlier. They then were handed over to an unknown group.

The following month, the men pleaded for help in gaining their release.

In a video, which was sent as a YouTube link in an e-mail to the Estonian foreign ministry, one of the cyclists reads in English from a statement calling on Lebanese officials and the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and France to do anything in their power to get them back home. After that, each of the other men makes a short plea for help.

The same month, a statement was posted on a Lebanese news portal by a previously unknown group calling itself the Renaissance and Reform Movement, saying it had carried out the kidnappings.

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