Contraband tobacco confiscated by the Régie authority in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The Régie Libanaise de Tabacs et Tombacs, Lebanon’s tobacco authority, carried out a number of raids in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.
The authorities confiscated quantities of contraband tobacco in an ongoing effort to combat the smuggling of products such as non-Arab tobacco and Muʽassel tobacco.
The Régie stated that the raids, which were carried out on an unspecified date by its anti-smuggling unit, included the areas of al-Laylaki, the Hay al-Sellom neighborhood, and the area surrounding the Lebanese University, where large quantities of tobacco were seized.
Offenders were given fines.
Prices of tobacco products in Lebanon have risen in recent years amid the economic crisis, more than tripling from 2021 to 2022, according to the most recent report from Lebanon’s Central Administration of Statistics.