A Saudi policeman in front of bags of Captagon seized in a shipment of pomegranates from Lebanon, in April 2021. (Twitter/Saudi Press Agency)
BEIRUT — On Feb. 7, 2021, two men sent by a Syrian businessman arrived at a warehouse in the Bekaa town of Taanayel to help oversee and photograph the packing of crates of pomegranates. It was no ordinary cargo.The merchant had financed an operation to ship 5.3 million pills of Captagon to Saudi Arabia inside the fruit, a co-conspirator testified, according to the verdict in the case reviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour. The smuggling attempt was complex: brothers from Tripoli rented the warehouse and created a front company to facilitate the operation. A middleman forged the papers, while men from the Zeaiter clan helped transport the drugs through the Bekaa. The pomegranates left the port of Beirut the following day, cleared for export with documentation falsely stating they originated from Lebanon. Two and a half months later, Saudi Arabia...
BEIRUT — On Feb. 7, 2021, two men sent by a Syrian businessman arrived at a warehouse in the Bekaa town of Taanayel to help oversee and photograph the packing of crates of pomegranates. It was no ordinary cargo.The merchant had financed an operation to ship 5.3 million pills of Captagon to Saudi Arabia inside the fruit, a co-conspirator testified, according to the verdict in the case reviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour. The smuggling attempt was complex: brothers from Tripoli rented the warehouse and created a front company to facilitate the operation. A middleman forged the papers, while men from the Zeaiter clan helped transport the drugs through the Bekaa. The pomegranates left the port of Beirut the following day, cleared for export with documentation falsely stating they originated from Lebanon. Two and a half months later, Saudi...