BEIRUT: Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar said Monday that authorities dismantled a network that was preparing to smuggle hashish and the illicit stimulant captagon to Saudi Arabia.
Lebanon has faced pressure from Gulf states to counter the production and trafficking of drugs, particularly the amphetamine-like narcotic captagon, for which the conservative monarchies are a major market.
Hajjar said authorities dismantled the network, which mainly sought to smuggle captagon and hashish, and arrested its head and a number of other people.
“This network had foreign links, with people in Turkiye, people in Australia” and was preparing to connect with operatives in Jordan, he said.
Lebanese authorities “seized 6.5 million captagon pills and 720 kilograms (1,500 pounds) of hashish which were being prepared... for shipment toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Hajjar said.
