Mawlawi inspects captagon tablets hidden in oranges at the Port of Beirut. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — A shipment of oranges hiding 9 million captagon pills and destined for the Gulf was seized by Customs at Beirut port on Wednesday. Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi visited the scene and inspected the shipment shortly after its seizure.
Here’s what we know:
• “Our work has been going on for more than two months and we would like to send a message to the Arab world about our seriousness and work to prevent evil from our Arab brothers,” Mawlawi said, in reference to efforts to curb the smuggling of illegal substances from Lebanon.
• He addressed the Gulf countries, saying that “the Lebanese state is serious about combating crime and drug smuggling, and this operation is proof of the readiness of the Lebanese agencies,” noting, however, that “the investigation is confidential.”
• Last April, Saudi Arabia enforced a ban on Lebanese fruits and vegetables following an incident in which Saudi customs found 5.3 million captagon pills hidden inside pomegranates imported from Lebanon.
• Saudi Arabia on Oct. 29 announced a ban of all Lebanese imports, saying that the measure was taken to protect the kingdom from narcotics being dispatched from Lebanese ports.
• On Dec. 11, the Internal Security Forces announced that it had busted an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of captagon narcotics to Saudi Arabia.