Story highlights

Guide is among three people taken hostage from a tour bus in the Sinai region

Security official says Bedouin kidnappers want release of a relative held on drug charges

Kidnappings, robberies are up since longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year

CNN  — 

The tourists and their guide were kidnapped Friday in the Sinai region of Egypt, authorities said.

Bedouin kidnappers want authorities to release a relative who is in detention in Alexandria on drug charges, said Gen. Ahmed Bakr, head of security in the North Sinai.

Authorities say the captives are still in the area where they were abducted.

In February, two American tourists were kidnapped and immediately released in the Sinai region. The same thing happened in June, when two American tourists were released about a day after they were abducted.

In Friday’s incident, Bedouins stopped a tour bus en route to Taba and kidnapped the two tourists – a man and a woman – and their guide, Bakr said.

Authorities are trying to negotiate with the kidnappers, he said.