Lebanese authorities hailed their security co-operation with Saudi Arabia after they foiled an attempt to smuggle a quantity of narcotics into Lebanon, the country's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday night.
More than 17kg of cocaine and 11,200kg of ecstasy were thwarted from being smuggled into Lebanon, hidden inside a vehicle coming from an unspecified country, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
The ministry said the joint effort with Saudi Arabia was part of a broader anti-narcotics strategy aimed at curbing drug trafficking across the region. It said the operation affirmed its “steadfast commitment to confronting all smuggling attempts and rejecting the use of its territories as a transit point or platform to harm its interests and relations with brotherly countries”.
It also praised its security forces for carrying out the operation. NNA said two suspects had been arrested while a search was under way for a third.
Ties between Riyadh and Beirut have been strained for years due to the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah on Lebanese political and security affairs. The kingdom sees an opening after the group was severely weakened by its war with Israel last year.
In 2021, Saudi Arabia banned all imports from Lebanon, citing smuggling of the methamphetamine-like drug Captagon, which was produced in Lebanon and Syria. That added further pressure on the Lebanese economy which had already been crushed by a 2019 financial crisis.
Western and Arab states have long accused Hezbollah and the former Syrian regime under Bashar Al Assad of being behind the illicit production and trade of Captagon. Huge factories were found in government-held areas after Mr Al Assad was toppled in December last year.
Lebanon has ramped up efforts to crack down on drugs in recent months. Last week, it captured Nouh Zaiter, a notorious drug lord near the Bekaa Valley. In September, it said it said it had seized 6.5 million Captagon pills and 700kg of cannabis that were being prepared for trafficking to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia plans to boost commercial ties with Lebanon after Lebanese authorities demonstrated “efficacy” in curbing drug smuggling to the kingdom over the past months, a senior Saudi official told Reuters last week.
