Couple were taken as they headed towards Sharm el-Sheikh Egyptian Bedouin tribesmen on Thursday captured two British nationals in the Sinai Peninsula but released them just three hours later, a security official said. The British couple – 51-year old Andy Wills and wife Caroline, aged 48 -- were kidnapped by masked assailants from an Egypt bank branch in the Sinai city of Ras Sidr as they headed towards the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the official said.
Egyptian security forces, working in tandem with Ras Sidr tribal elders, worked to release the Britons soon after the original capture.
The two British nationals both work for Exxon-Mobil.
The kidnappers told reporters they demanded the release of four relatives held over arms trafficking across borders between Libya and Egypt, en route to the Gaza Strip.
General Mahmoud al-Hafnawy, head of security in southern Sinai, received information from his department about the kidnapping on Thursday.
The British Foreign Office said it was investigating.
"We're aware of reports about it and are looking into those at the moment to clarify the situation,” a Foreign Office spokesman told AFP.
Since an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak last year, the Sinai has grown ever more lawless.
The Bedouins have pressed hard for the release of captive tribesmen they say have been sentenced unfairly on charges ranging from terrorism to drug dealing and people trafficking across the border into Israel.