Five Armenian brothers arrested for murders in Lebanon

PanARMENIAN.Net - Five brothers suspected in at least six brutal murders were arrested early Wednesday, November 16, capping off weeks of investigations by the Internal Security Force’s Information Branch.

The Daily Star reports that the brothers, who were arrested in an overnight raid on their residence by the ISF in the Beirut neighborhood of Nabaa, were identified as Michel, George, Aziz, Movses and Maurice Tanielian. They are also known as the Bou Hanna family.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel led a team from the ISF’s Information Branch to Nabaa early Wednesday morning and arrested the suspects, who live in different apartments in the same building, a security source told the news portal.

According to the security source, Michel Tanielian told interrogators that he had been responsible for killing 10 people and had attempted to kill two others.

“Up until now, at least one of them [Michel] has admitted to killing ten people and injuring two others,” said the source, adding that Michel had previously been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of drug trafficking.

The source also said that the mother of the five brothers was also brought in for questioning.

One or more of the suspects in custody are believed to have used stolen taxis over the past two months to commit murders, killing some of the victims inside the taxis, which were later set on fire. At least six people, including a Lebanese Army soldier, have been found dead in different locations on the outskirts of Beirut.

The source said that Michel and possibly one of his brothers are allegedly responsible for the killing of Albert Ramez al-Nashar, 52, Shaker Saeed Abdul Nour, 48, Hussein Abdullah, Toufiq Toufiq, Ziyad Hani Deed and Hagop Yaacoubian.

The source also said that all five are Syrian nationals and three of the brothers, Aziz, Movses and Maurice, also have Lebanese citizenship.