JEDDAH: Egypt’s Interior Ministry has launched a search for a Saudi businessman believed kidnapped by unidentified people in Cairo, according to reports on Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Ali Azzazi, security director of Ismailia, was quoted as saying that he received information that Hassan Ali Ahmed Al-Sanad, 70, was kidnapped on Monday evening. He said Interior Minister Majdi Abdul Ghaffar had formed a security team to handle the investigation.

Azzazi said the kidnapping took place on the Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road in northeast Cairo. Investigators had found the Saudi businessman’s car smashed and its doors left open.

The victim is a Saudi investor working in Egypt who owns farms and juice companies. He was kidnapped after attending board meetings of companies he owns, the report said.