A Syrian-born Romanian businessman sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison by a Romanian court for masterminding the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq was handed over to the Romanian Police on Friday morning, authorities announced.

"In the morning of July 19, Omar Hayssam was delivered to the Romanian police," stated the Presidency spokesman Bogdan Oprea. But he didn't specify who handed him over.

According to a press release, President Traian Basescu thanked the institutions and officers involved in this extensive operation, who for more than five years tenaciously pursued the target of bringing Omar Hayssam to the country, to serve his punishment, after being convicted of terrorism in the case file of the journalists abducted in Iraq.

Hayssam arrived in Romania as a university student in the 1980s and became one of the richest men in Romania.

In the kidnapping incident, three Romanian journalists were abducted on March 28, 2005 in Baghdad, where they were covering the Iraq War. The reporters have been held captive for 55 days.

Hayssam was soon arrested in Romania and local media speculated that Hayssam had hoped prosecutors would drop the organized crime charges when he presented himself as a go-between. He would then unblock his bank accounts, frozen as part of the financial investigation, pay a fictitious ransom, and become a "national hero" when the hostages were released.

Hayssam disappeared from Romania in 2006 following his release from custody on medical grounds upon the Prosecutor's Office request, his flight leading to the dismissal of the prosecutor general and the heads of both domestic and foreign intelligence. Later, he was convicted and jailed in Syria for terrorism.

Hayssam was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in 2007, and the Romanian authorities have taken various steps in order to bring Hayssam back to the country to serve his sentence in the country.