Lebanese security forces have busted a smuggling operation involving more than two million Captagon pills and over two tonnes of cannabis.
The Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch had received information earlier about ongoing preparations for a major drug-smuggling operation from Lebanon, the ISF said in a statement on Saturday.
Consequently, the branch intensified its investigations and was able to locate the drug shipment in question, in the Port of Beirut, and keep it under surveillance.
The shipment had been concealed in a Mercedes Actros truck with three electric generators, the ISF said.
All of the members of the smuggling network were also identified, and they were identified as:
- 52-year-old Lebanese national “M.S.”
- 33-year-old Lebanese national “R.S.”
- 25-year-old Syrian national “M.S.”
The suspects were arrested on July 30th during simultaneous operations in Baalbek and the village of Sharoun in the Aley District.
Simultaneously, in coordination with Lebanese Customs, the shipment’s location was raided in an operation that resulted in the seizure of 2.2 million Captagon pills and around 2 million tonnes of cannabis, all concealed in the aforementioned truck.
The first suspect confessed that he had been coordinating the execution of a drug-smuggling operation and that he had tasked the second and third suspects with preparing the truck to load the drugs into its bed.
The second and third suspects confessed to having moved to Baalbek, where they prepared the shipment, placed it in the truck’s bed, and welded it shut.
The detainees have been referred to the competent judicial authority with the seized substances, and work is underway to arrest the fourth culprit.
