An investigation by Syria's Interior Ministry has found that all but one of the 42 cases of alleged abductions of women from the minority Alawite community were unfounded, a spokesman said.
The cases, which were examined by a high-ranking ministerial committee, were based either on complaints made to the police or on social media reports that had caused a "stir", Noureddine Al Baba told reporters on Sunday.
The committee was set up in July amid mounting reports of Alawite women being kidnapped, with families in some cases reporting that they had received demands for large ransoms. Alawites have faced attacks and other forms of reprisals after the overthrow last year of the former dictator Bashar Al Assad, who is a member of the minority sect.
Mr Al Baba said the ministry reached its conclusions after taking testimony from witnesses and visiting the locations of the alleged abductions in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, and Hama and Homs provinces in central Syria.
"It turned out that 41 of these cases were not abductions," Mr Al Baba said, adding that what was "rumoured" about widespread abductions of Alwaite women was "totally untrue".
"There was only one case of a real crime of abduction," he said. "The girl was returned safely after the security forces followed up on the case. A search is ongoing to identify the perpetrators."
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