WASHINGTON DC - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday upped its $1 million reward to $5 million for information leading to the finding and return of Robert Levinson, an agent who went missing in Iran eight years ago.
“Today we mark eight years since Bob disappeared in Iran, and we are increasing the reward for his location and safe return to his family,” said FBI Director James B. Comey in a statement. “We ask anyone with information to contact the FBI. It is long past time for Bob to come home.”
Levinson went missing on March 9, 2007 on Iran’s Kish Island. According to an investigative report published by the Associated Press two years ago, he disappeared “while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence-gathering mission.”
Levinson’s wife confirmed to CBS news in January 2014 that her husband “was working as a consultant for the CIA.”
“He was also a private investigator. He was able to do both at the same time in his travels,” she said.
Levinson, who is said to have retired from the FBI in 1998, turns 67 today.
Levinson’s wife has told the media that she has lost all contact with her husband since his disappearance.
The White House has said that Levinson was not a government employee at the time of his disappearance, while Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif has said on different occasions that his country does not have any information about the former FBI agent.
“What we know is that he is not incarcerated in Iran,” Zarif told CBS in December 2013. “If he is, he's not incarcerated by the government.”
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