Following the weapons seized on Monday from a truck that caught fire on the Tripoli-Beirut highway between Batroun and Kfarabida, the army reportedly stopped up to five other similar vehicles in other regions, according to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent in North Lebanon. Three of them were stopped on Monday evening on the Zouk Mosbeh highway (Kesrouan), according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). The goods had been taken to the nearby Sarba barracks for inspection.
Also according to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent, hundreds of Turkish-made pistols were found in the burning truck, a shipment that is believed to have been smuggled through the port of Tripoli from Turkey. The main suspect in this case is believed to be the Palestinian M.I. These weapons were believed to be destined for sale on the local market.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the army said that the truck in question had been stopped in the village of Basbina in Batroun after a fire broke out and that 304 pistols were found hidden above the engine with their ammunition. “The Intelligence Directorate arrested several suspects in this smuggling operation,” the text continued. Following the incident, the army searched all the other trucks carrying goods from the same shipment, without finding any other suspicious goods. The army did not specify the number of trucks searched.
A source close to the army told L'Orient-Le Jour that the driver of the truck that caught fire was Turkish, confirming that the goods came from Turkey and were imported illegally into the country.
On Monday, the Civil Defense was dispatched to the scene of the fire. The weapons were discovered inside the truck. Civil Defense then contacted the Lebanese army and security services, who went to the scene and set up a security perimeter. According to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent, the truck and the items seized will be transferred to a military center for advanced inspection. The truck driver has been arrested pending further investigation.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.