Lebanon's Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi (L), checks one of the fake oranges filled with Captagon that were seized at the Port of Beirut on Dec. 29, 2021. (Credit: Anwar Amro
BEIRUT — Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on Thursday communicated with Kuwaiti security authorities, praising security cooperation between the two countries which contributed to yesterday's captagon bust in Beirut.
Here’s what we know:
• Customs authorities at the Port of Beirut yesterday seized a shipment of 9 million captagon pills hidden inside oranges. Mawlawi visited the scene and inspected the shipment shortly after.
• According to L’Orient Today’s correspondent at the Saray, Mawlawi stressed the “seriousness of the interior ministry to prevent exporting evil to all Arab countries, and Gulf countries in particular.”
• Mawlawi offered this operation as “proof of the readiness of the Lebanese agencies” to combat drug smuggling.
• Last April, Saudi Arabia enforced a ban on the import of Lebanese fruits and vegetables following an incident in which Saudi customs found 5.3 million captagon pills hidden inside pomegranates from Lebanon.
• Saudi Arabia escalated its punitive actions against Lebanon on Oct. 29, when it decided to ban all imports from the country, saying that this measure was taken to protect the kingdom from narcotics being dispatched from Lebanese ports.