Cairo , Egypt ( CNN ) -- Two Brazilian tourists , their guide and a police officer who were kidnapped by Bedouin tribesmen in Egypt 's southern Sinai Peninsula all have been freed , an Interior Ministry spokesman said Monday . Interior Ministry spokesman Alaa Mahmoud on Sunday said that the tourist and their guide had been released . The whereabouts of the officer had been unclear . Provincial officials said that an `` unknown armed group '' had stopped the tourists ' bus near the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine 's and taken the two Brazilians and the guide hostage , according to the state-run Egypt New Agency . That report did not mention a police officer being kidnapped . The kidnappers then demanded the release of Bedouin prisoners jailed under longtime Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak , as well as the cancellation of sentences handed down in absentia . But a security official in southern Sinai said that the the tourists and their guide were released late Sunday without any of those demands being met , according to the official Egypt News Agency report . Instead , the kidnappers heeded calls from Bedouin tribal leaders to let them go free , said the official . There was no immediate word on the status of the police officer who the Interior Ministry spokesman had also reported kidnapped . The southern Sinai Peninsula has seen a rash of kidnappings in recent months , including the brief abduction of two American tourists in February and the seizure of two dozen Chinese workers and a translator in late January . Kidnappings and daylight robberies have become increasingly common in the turbulent year since Mubarak 's overthrow in February 2011 , with several wealthy Egyptians among those targeted by hostage-takers demanding ransom .
NEW : All four kidnapping victims were released , Interior Ministry officials said . They were freed without the kidnappers ' demands being met , officials add . The children , their parents were taken in southern Sinai . The area has seen a rash of kidnappings in recent years .