BEIRUT: Noah Zeaiter, believed to be a leading figure in drug trafficking from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, including the global distribution of captagon, was arrested on Thursday, the Lebanese army said.
Describing him as “one of the most dangerous wanted men” in the country, the army command said he was captured during an ambush along a road between Kneisseh and Baalbek.
Lebanese authorities have been after Zeaiter for years. In 2014, he escaped from a hospital to which he was taken after sustaining leg wounds during a confrontation with security forces. In 2021, a Lebanese military court sentenced him in his absence to life imprisonment.
Also wanted by Interpol, Zeaiter, 54, is accused by US and European authorities of heading a captagon-smuggling network that also involved Hezbollah and the former Assad regime in Syria. He denies the accusations, claiming they are fabricated.
His lawyer, Ashraf Mousawi, said Zeaiter was “wanted on hundreds of warrants, some of which carry life sentences.”
