An international property tycoon found lost, emaciated and with the word "thief" written on his forehead on a country road in Ireland has claimed he was kidnapped and held for more than eight months.

Police said investigations were continuing into the apparent ordeal of Kevin McGeever — who had business dealings in the United States and Dubai — but said he had been "quite vague in his recollection of events."

Superintendent Pat Murray said in a telephone interview Monday that the 68-year-old McGeever had "lost some weight and appeared disheveled and had some beard growth," when he was found Tuesday last week by a couple driving along a road near Ballinamore, County Leitrim, not far from the border with Northern Ireland. 

McGeever claimed he was abducted from his home in the village Craughwell, County Galway, about 70 miles away, on May 27 last year, police said. He was, however, only reported missing on June 22 by his partner Siobhan O'Callaghan.

Media reports have speculated about the involvement Russian mafia, dissident Irish militant groups and border smuggling gangs.

But Murray said police did not have any "definite intelligence of any gangs being involved," saying the case was "very mysterious."

"He [McGeever] is very vague on any kind of detail in relation to what is alleged to have happened to him," he said. "It is only an allegation at the moment."

Murray said reports the word "thief" was carved into McGeever's forehead were untrue, saying the word was written in ink.

The officer said some people had come forward to claim McGeever owed them money, but he added he did not know "how credible that is until we delve into that more deeply."

Police 'hopeful'
Murray said police had spoken to McGeever, who is being treated in a hospital, but planned to have a more formal conversation with him later.

"We're hopeful we'll get to the bottom of exactly what happened in this situation," he said.

Murray said that McGeever had business dealings in the United States and in Dubai.

The tycoon was found wandering in the road by Catherine Vallely and Peter Rehill as they drove home.

“When the man got into our car he told us he had no shoes on. I said he could have been killed in the middle of the road and he said three men threw him out of a van,” Vallely said, according to the Irish Examiner.

“I was surprised. I thought he might have Alzheimer’s or something like that. The man said his name was Kevin and he didn’t realize he was in County Leitrim. He didn’t even know the month, the day or the time,” she added.

Vallely said McGeever called a friend and they agreed to drive to a supermarket car park, but instead stopped at the police station in Ballinamore, where he was given tea and biscuits.

“He said he hadn’t eaten for God knows how long. He had a pair of enormous eyes in a very thin face and his cheekbones stuck out,” Vallely said, according to the Examiner. He was rubbing his beard with fingers that had long nails. He was very well-educated, well-spoken, and polite and articulate.”

The Sunday Independent newspaper reported that McGeever was a “wealthy property developer who sold apartments in Dubai.”

The paper said his mansion at Craughwell was nicknamed “Nirvana” by local people because of its opulence and that his cars included a Ferrari and a Porsche.

Nicola Cooke, a journalist with The Sunday Business Post, said McGeever clearly had "all the trappings of wealth," but was "very much a man of mystery."

She said he was not well known as a businessman, saying he appeared to have been mainly involved in selling apartments in Dubai for about $130,000 to ordinary people in Ireland.

Three Americans were among dozens of foreign nationals kidnapped by heavily armed militants who attacked a gas field in Algeria on Wednesday, U.S. officials said.

A militant group claimed the raid was launched in retaliation for France's military intervention in neighboring Mali, Reuters reported, citing local media.

The hostage situation, described as a "terrorist attack" by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, was unfolding at a gas operation at In Amenas — a joint venture including oil giant BP, the Norwegian oil firm Statoil and the Algerian state company Sonatrach.

BP said in a statement that the site was "attacked and occupied by a group of unidentified armed people."

Reuters said that according to regional media reports, the raiders killed three people, including a Briton and a French national, but there was no way to confirm the account. Reuters did not report the citizenship of the third person.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates across borders in the Sahara desert, claimed it had captured the workers in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, Reuters reported, citing regional news agencies.

France has been using Algeria's air space for attacks against al-Qaida linked militants in Mali since last week.

Western government officials had not yet linked Wednesday's attack to the conflict in Algeria's southern neighbor. Algeria and neighboring Mali are former colonies of France.

"The Algerian authorities will not respond to the demands of the terrorists and will not negotiate,'' Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia was quoted as saying by Algeria's official APS news agency.

One of the kidnappers, reportedly contacted by Mauritania's news agency ANI, warned that any attempt to free the hostages would come to a "tragic end." The militants had placed mines around the site of the kidnapping, according to that unconfirmed report.

The U.S. government is in contact with Algerian authorities, the British Embassy in Algiers, BP's security office in London and the Diplomatic Security office in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a briefing on Wednesday.

French President Francois Hollande said he was also in contact with Algiers and other governments about the attack.

A picture of who was being held hostage — with various reports that the total number was 41 — remains incomplete, but citizens of at least six countries are in the group.

There are three Americans in the group, a senior U.S. official told NBC. An earlier report had put the number at seven.

The State Department’s Nuland confirmed that Americans were among the hostages, but she would not release names, numbers and other details "in order to protect their safety."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference that 13 Norwegian citizens were among the hostages. Three Algerian Statoil employees and one Canadian were in the hostage group, the company said. Statoil is a minority shareholder in the venture.

One Irish national was abducted, an Irish government official said, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said "several" British citizens were among the hostages.

A spokesman for the Japanese government said it had set up a task force to investigate reports of Japanese hostages.

A reporter for Japan's NHK television managed to call a Japanese worker in Algeria, Reuters reported. The worker said he got a phone call from a colleague at the gas field.

"It was around 6 a.m. this morning. He said that he had been hearing gunshots for about 20 minutes," the worker said. "I wasn't able to get through to him since."

The U.S. government issued an emergency message to Americans in the country through the embassy in Algiers, warning them to avoid large gatherings, protests or demonstrations.

"U.S. citizens should review their personal security plans, remain aware of their surroundings, including local events, and monitor local news stations for updates," it read, in part. "Maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security and follow instructions of local authorities.

The Amenas gas field is about 800 miles southeast of Algiers and about 35 miles west of the Libyan border.

Oil major BP said it believed the operation had been shut down after the attack, which took place at about 5 a.m. local time. The company said the field had been producing about 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day — more than 10 percent of the country's overall gas output, Reuters reported.

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Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube, Ian Johnston, Arata Yamamoto and Alastair Jamieson of NBC News, and Reuters, contributed to this report.

James Lawler Duggan / AFP - Getty Images, file

Freelance photographer Austin Tice, seen in this July 2012 picture taken at an undisclosed location, has been missing since Aug. 13.

The U.S. believes missing American journalist Austin Tice is in the hands of the Syrian government, a State Department spokeswoman said, after a YouTube emerged purporting to show him at the hands of his captors.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday that the State Department was unable to verify the accuracy of the video, which appears to shows Tice with masked men that one expert described as a "caricature of a jihadi group."

Nuland said that the video “may have been staged” and added, “There’s a lot of reason for the Syrian Government to duck responsibility, but we continue to believe that, to the best of our knowledge, we think he is in Syrian Government custody."

The battle for Aleppo: My 18 days with the Syrian rebels

Former U.S. Marine Tice, who worked for outlets including The Washington Post and media group McClatchy Newspapers, has been missing in Syria since Aug. 13.

He posted on Twitter on Aug. 11 saying he had been celebrating his birthday with Syrian rebels.

McClatchy reported on its website Monday that Tice was “alive and in the custody of armed men” and quoted Tice’s parents, Marc and Debra, as saying the video was “reassuring.”

It quoted a statement from the Houston couple saying:

“Though it is difficult to see our son in such a setting and situation as that depicted in the video, it is reassuring that he appears to be unharmed. It is evident that the current events in Syria are challenging and difficult for everyone involved. Our wish is that peace and stability can once again return to the people of Syria and that our eldest son, Austin, will soon be safely returned to our family.”

The video clip, which shows masked men carrying guns, came to light after it was shared on a Facebook page associated with supporters of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Dad hopes Ex-Marine in Syria will turn up safe

NBC News could not confirm the authenticity of the video. The New York Times reported that several analysts expressed doubts about the authenticity of the video.

The Washington Post also quoted Joseph Holliday, of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, as saying the video did not ring true and that the "captors" appeared to be wearing Afghan-style clothing rather than those normally associated with Islamists in Syria.

“It’s like a caricature of a jihadi group,” he told the newspaper. “It looks like someone went to the Internet, watched pictures of Afghan mujaheddin, then copied them. My gut instinct is that regime security guys dressed up like a bunch of wahoos and dragged him around and released the video to scare the U.S. and others about the danger of al-Qaida extremists in Syria. It would fit their narrative perfectly.”

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Updated at 11:15 a.m. ET: Egypt is working with U.S. Embassy officials to secure the release of 61-year-old Boston pastor Rev. Michel Louis and two others who were abducted while on a church trip to the Middle East, U.S. officials told NBC News on Sunday.

The son of Louis told The Associated Press that his father was on a church trip to retrace Jesus' steps through the Holy Land with 23 other members of the clergy and worshippers when he was abducted. Along with him, a 39-year-old Boston woman in the group and a tour guide were kidnapped Friday.

The AP said an Egyptian Bedouin, Jirmy Abu-Masuh, was the captor – and that he was demanding police release his uncle from prison. It reported Abu-Masuh vowed to take more hostages of different nationalities if his demands were not met.

Gov. Gen. Tayeb Mabrouk of North Sinai said Sunday authorities are seeking to get the kidnapper's uncle released in exchange for the freedom of the three hostages, accoeding to NBC News. The kidnapper has refused to negotiate with three tribal Bedouin chiefs until his uncle is freed. He gave a 24-hour deadline to release his uncle but authorities have asked for more time, NBC News reported. The hostages are fine and being treated as guests, the kidnapper told authorities.

North Sinai authorities have been given orders by the ministry of interior to resolve the situation. 

Rev. Jean Louis said his father was making his annual mission trip to the Holy Land.

"He's been doing it for the past four years now, and this just turned out to be a little different from any other year," said the younger Louis, who works as a youth pastor at a church founded by his father. "He's a diabetic, so we'd like the person that, or the people that have him in captivity, to know that. We're just concerned for his health. But we know that the governments are working very hard negotiating."

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy told NBC News it was in close touch with the Egyptian authorities as negotiations continue, and that Egypt was “working hard to resolve the situation and bringing about a safe release of the hostages.”

The abduction took place along the road linking Cairo to the sixth-century St. Catherine's Monastery, located at the foot of Mount Sinai where the Old Testament says Moses received the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments.

The route is a frequent target by Bedouins who abduct tourists to pressure police to meet their demands, which is usually to release a detained relative they say has been unjustly arrested.

Friday's abduction was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula over the past year. Abducted tourists are rarely harmed and usually released within days.

Louis' son said the family is concerned about all three captives and does not want to discuss communications with the U.S. government so as not to jeopardize the chances for their release.

"Any other family or anybody that has loved ones that are in a situation like that can feel ... a bit uneasy," Louis said outside the family home in Boston's neighborhood of Mattapan. "In spirit, we are confident, we believe in God and we know that our God is active and is real and is gonna intervene on our behalf."

The Louis family gathered at the elder pastor's home Saturday to pray and comfort each other. The elder Louis is pastor of the Free Pentecostal Church of God.

"We have a little command center, crisis command center inside and we are trying our best to do what we can do and be very calm in our action also," Louis said. "... we have some good people that are praying for us across the country, across the world ... we thank everybody that's working on our behalf."

Abu-Masuh, of the Tarbeen tribe in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, told the AP that Egypt's Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri called him personally and asked him to release the Americans "who are guests in our country." He said his uncle called him from prison pleading the same and fearing police might arrest his children or wife to pressure Abu-Masuh.

But Abu-Masuh insists that police release his 62-year-old uncle, who he said suffers from back and heart problems and diabetes. He said his uncle was arrested a week ago after refusing to pay a bribe to police who stopped him along the way.

NBC News' Charlene Gubash and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Handout / Reuters

Aid worker Helen Johnston, seen in this undated family photograph released by Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, was rescued from her Taliban captors Saturday.

A NATO rescue team dropped by helicopter in remote mountains of northern Afghanistan early on Saturday freed four aid workers, including two doctors, who had been seized by the Taliban last month, the alliance said. 

The aid workers, employed by Swiss-based Medair, were en route to flood-stricken parts of Badakhshan province when they were kidnapped. 

NATO forces entered the area under cover of darkness and after confirming the presence of the hostages, carried out a successful raid to free them, Lieutenant Commander Brian Badura, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told Reuters. 

The rescue team suffered no casualties in the operation, Badura said. The kidnappers were armed with heavy machine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades. 

Shamsul Rahman Shams, the deputy governor of Badakhshan, said five men who were holding the aid workers were killed in the operation. 

 "It was an extraordinarily brave, breathtaking even, operation that our troops had to carry out," U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said, according to BBC News. "I pay tribute to their skill and dedication."

'Swift and brutal end'
He added anyone who kidnapped British citizens could expect "a swift and brutal end."

A statement from ISAF identified the hostage-takers as members of the Taliban, who have stepped up violence across the country as foreign combat forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014. 

"This morning's mission, conducted by coalition forces, exemplifies our collective and unwavering commitment to defeat the Taliban," General John Allen, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said. 

Seven killed in attack on NATO base in Afghanistan

The alliance identified the two foreigners freed as Helen Johnston and Moragwe Oirere, who along with two Afghans worked for Medair, a humanitarian non-governmental organization based near Lausanne, Switzerland. 

The aid workers had been travelling by donkey to visit a clinic in the remote Yawan district, where the road had been destroyed by floods caused by melting snow after one of the worst Afghan winters in decades. 

Afghan forces have taken over security in the provincial capital Faizabad and some parts of Badakhshan ahead of the Western drawdown. 

Afghan authorities originally said five people had been kidnapped, but it later emerged that one of the party managed to escape from the hostage takers. 

The kidnapping of foreigners has become relatively common in parts of Afghanistan since U.S-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001, heralding a 11-year anti-insurgent war. 

In 2010, 10 foreign medical workers, including six Americans, were killed in Badakhshan in an attack blamed on insurgents. 

Other attacks have been blamed on criminal groups looking for ransom. Police in Badakhshan earlier said the kidnappers in this case were demanding money, and they appeared to be members of a criminal gang.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Str / AP

British tourist Judith Tebbutt, 56, who was snatched by Somali gunmen from a resort island in Kenya and whose husband was killed.

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A British tourist snatched by Somali gunmen from a resort island in Kenya was freed on Wednesday after more than six months in captivity, according to reports.

Judith Tebbutt was taken in September by gunmen who killed her husband, David Tebbutt, during the attack.

The Associated Press reported that Tebbutt's release on Wednesday was confirmed by a Somali pirate named Bile Hussein and by an official with the militia Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama named Mohammed Hussein.

A third official from the ASWJ militia who asked not to be named said a ransom was paid to pirates for Tebbutt's release. No figure was given.

The BBC reported that Tebbutt's relatives had raised the sum demanded by the pirates. BBC journalist Frank Gardner reported that a private security company secured Tebbutt's release.

Str / AP

British tourist Judith Tebbutt, 56, who was snatched by Somali gunmen from a resort island in Kenya and whose husband David Tebbutt was killed in the attack, is seen after being freed following more than six months in captivity in Adado, Somalia.

Britain's Foreign Office declined to comment.

Gunmen entered the Tebbutts' resort room easily on the night of Sept. 10 -- their resort door was only a piece of colorful cloth.

Police believe that David Tebbutt resisted and was shot.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.