British Executive Released by Lebanese Captors

BEIRUT â€”  Brian Levick, a British oil company executive kidnaped March 15, was freed unharmed in the Muslim sector of the Lebanese capital Saturday, British Ambassador David Miers said.

The British Foreign Office in London said Levick’s release followed contacts with the Lebanese government and several militias.

“Levick said his kidnapers told him that they were members of the Khaibar Brigades, and that they treated him well,� said a colleague.

The Khaibar Brigades, a previously unknown Muslim group, telephoned news agencies Tuesday and promised to free Levick, Briton Geoffrey Nash, 60, and a French Embassy employee, Danielle Perez, 34.

Nash, released unharmed on Wednesday, flew with his wife to Cyprus on Saturday aboard a British air force helicopter. Perez, who was seized March 22 with her father, French diplomat Marcel Carton, remains in captivity.

With Levick’s release, 11 kidnaped Westerners are still held--five Americans, four French nationals, a Briton and a Dutch priest.

In London, the Foreign Office spokesman said Levick, who worked for the Lebanese-owned Coral Oil Co. in Beirut, was dropped by his abductors near a hotel in the predominantly Muslim western sector of the capital.

Levick, kidnaped March 15 while walking to his office in West Beirut, was one of three Britons abducted in the capital this month.

The Foreign Office spokesman said Britain will continue to seek the release of Alec Collett, 63, a British information consultant working for the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees. Collett was kidnaped Monday.

Two groups--the Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War) movement and the Khaibar Brigades--had claimed to have kidnaped Nash and Levick.

Police sources, meanwhile, reported the abduction of two Lebanese Jews, both private citizens, in the capital following the abduction of a third Friday night. Their kidnapers were not known.