Burglar on the run threatens police with grenade before being arrested

BEIRUT — A burglar on the run threatened the Lebanese police with a grenade and opened fire on security officers, before being arrested in the Hay al-Sellom area in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Internal Security Forces said on their website on Thursday.

Here’s what we know:

    • The ISF said that H.I, a 39-year-old, had four arrest warrants for armed robbery. He is also suspected of having stolen the sum of 336 million Lebanese pounds from a cashier in a supermarket in Dekwaneh.

    • The ISF also said that when security forces ambushed him after locating him in Hay al-Sellom on June 21, the individual opened fire on the officers and threatened them with a grenade. But it was eventually brought under control without causing any casualties. A pistol, ammunition and magazines, as well as falsified identity papers and drugs were seized in his possession.

    • Theft and crime has risen in Lebanon in recent months as Lebanon suffers from an unprecedented economic crisis since Oct. 2019.