Lebanon has captured Nouh Zaiter, the country's most notorious drug lord, near Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, sources have told The National.
The news was confirmed by two senior security sources and Baalbek-Hermel governor Bachir Khodr. The Lebanese Army said it had captured one of the country's “most dangerous and wanted men”, with the initials NZ, in the operation on Thursday afternoon.
Zaiter, who is under US and European sanctions, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison with hard labour after being convicted of drug crimes by a Lebanese military court in 2021. He was able to evade authorities because of the significant firepower and influence he was believed to hold.
In a later statement on Thursday night, the Lebanese Army said 'NZ' was wanted "across numerous Lebanese regions" for "drug and arms trafficking, manufacturing narcotic substances, and robbery".
The army said he had also previously opened fire on troops and kidnapped people for ransom.
The US, Britain and the EU sanctioned him in 2023. At the time, the US Treasury said he was "a known arms dealer and drug smuggler" who allegedly conducted his illicit activity under the protection of the former Syrian regime under president Bashar Al Assad.
The Assad regime was accused of bolstering its coffers through the Captagon trade. Countries around the Middle East are now eager to shut down trade of the highly addictive amphetamine, which was produced on a mass scale during Syria's civil war and often smuggled across Lebanon's border.
Zaiter had long been accused of having a strong grip on the drug trade in Lebanon, and for clashing with the Lebanese Army and rival groups.
He is also believed to have good relations with Hezbollah, which has had a stronghold in the Bekaa Valley – the area from which much of the drug trade in Lebanon originates, partly because it is next to the porous border with Syria.
In a 2016 interview with Lebanese TV outlet Al Jadeed, Zaiter admitted he grew and sold cannabis but denied he led a drug mafia.
The arrest comes two days after two Lebanese soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in clashes with fugitives in the Al Sharawneh neighbourhood of Baalbek. The soldiers were killed in a raid in which a large amount of ammunition and drugs were seized.
