Seized drugs, including Captagon, on display to the media in the Syrian town of Marea, in the countryside north of Aleppo, on May 24, 2022. (Credit: AFP)
Lebanese Customs officers at Beirut airport seized a shipment of drugs concealed inside clothing buttons, arriving aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, several media sources reported Sunday.
Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces, wrote on X: “We often hear, as we did today, about one or more drug shipments being discovered and seized by security agencies, only for the news to completely disappear afterward. The manufacture or even trafficking of Captagon requires significant capital, well-organized cross-border networks, and substantial logistical capabilities. We have yet to hear of any major arrests in this domain — only the seizure of the goods and the detention of a few low-level individuals.”
“Let us hope that, starting today, we begin hearing news of the arrest of the major figures behind each smuggling operation,” Geagea concluded.
Earlier in March, police at Beirut's international airport seized nearly six kilos of Captagon pills hidden in chocolate, bound for the Gulf.
Lebanon's security forces regularly announce arrests and seizures linked to the trafficking of Captagon, an illegal amphetamine produced in Lebanon and Syria. Its producers compete inventively to export it illegally, primarily to the Gulf, where it is prized as a party drug. Customs and security forces have already found pills concealed in foodstuffs, industrial equipment, and trinkets.
Overland export routes through Syria have also been cut off since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Western governments have long accused the former Syrian president’s brother, Maher al-Assad, and his entourage of turning Syria into a hub for illegal drug trade.
