This was published 8 years ago
Child abduction crew carried out pre-runs in the days prior to botched 60 Minutes operation
By Latika Bourke
- If tables were turned, he'd be called a terrorist: Ali Elamine
- Judge declares it a kidnapping, not custody case
- Family of detained Nine crew want to travel to Lebanon
Beirut: In the two days leading up to the botched abduction involving 60 Minutes presenter Tara Brown, a suspicious car was spotted tracking the school walking route the children of Ali Elamine and Sally Faulkner took through Beirut, Fairfax Media has learned.
So tight-knit is the Shiite community in southern Beirut where Mr Elamine lives that his phone was bombarded with calls in the minutes after the child abduction took place on a busy shopping strip in the heart of the district of Hadath.
Intriguingly, none of the calls were from his mother, whom Mr Elamine says suffered three internal bleeds in her head after being manhandled during the abduction. The calls were from his associates, who phoned him sooner than his own mother could to tell him that his children had been plucked from her care and smuggled away into a car.
Mr Elamine knew who he had to call - the children's mother, Sally Faulkner. It is widely believed that Mr Elamine's network tipped him off about her arrival in the country the minute she stepped off the plane.
Sally Faulkner with children Lahela, 6, and Noah, 4.
Mr Elamine had cut off communications with Ms Faulkner after discovering emails on the family iPad exposing her plans to try and bring her children back to Australia.
"I knew, yeah," Mr Elamine told reporters on his way into Monday's hearing at the Palace of Justice.
"That's why communication stopped, 'cos I see it wasn't a pure side of communications, it was more trying to track us down and how we move."
Ms Faulkner's lawyer claims she sent 150 emails to Mr Elamine which went unanswered. It was this silence which led her to carrying out her desperate act, hiring Adam Whittington's child recovery agency to retrieve her children from Lebanon.
'I don't care about the money': Ali Elamine.Credit: Getty Images
Mr Elamine sent his estranged wife a message asking if the kids were with her. Her response, to confirm the children were safe and with her and not some unknown abductors, would be her undoing.
Police were able to trace the call and arrest Ms Faulkner, the 60 Minutes crew filming the family reunion and child recovery operatives, ex-soldier Australian-British dual national Adam Whittington and his Cyprus-based accomplice Craig Michael.
60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown Brown and her 60 Minutes crew have had the charges dropped and have been released from a Beirut jail.Credit: Getty Images
The seven have been held in Lebanese jails ever since. Their case is due back before Judge Rami Abdullah on Wednesday evening Australian time. Lawyers for all parties continue to negotiate.
In Lebanon, Mr Elamine has custodial rights as the father, in contrast to Ms Faulkner's custodial ruling granted by the Australian courts. Lawyers for Ms Faulkner and the Nine Network have both suggested he is deliberately trying to slow down negotiations because he knows he has the upper hand.
Lebanese policemen escort Tara Brown from a Lebanese courthouse before the deal was struck.
But Mr Elamine insists money and revenge are not part of his motives.
"If I wanted revenge it would have ended in a different way, simple as that," he said, adding "money's not an issue for us" when asked if he was seeking a payout from the Nine Network.
Ali Elamine with his children Lahala, 6, and Noah, 4. Credit: Facebook
with Suzan Haidamous