Security forces in the southern suburbs of Beirut during the implementation of a security plan. (Credit: Husam Chbaro/An-Nahar)
Around midnight on Saturday–Sunday, a mass escape took place at the detention center of the Ghazir police station (Kesrouan/Jbeil district), where approximately 19 detainees — 13 Syrians, five Lebanese and one Egyptian — managed to flee after creating a hole in the wall of the holding cell, a source at the Internal Security Forces said Sunday, noting that one Lebanese was arrested by the ISF in Jbeil in the early hours of the morning.
According to available information, the escape went unnoticed for about an hour and a half, giving the fugitives enough time to distance themselves from the site and avoid immediate pursuit.
An urgent internal investigation has been launched amid questions of possible negligence or collusion, while security forces continue search operations and remain on high alert to track down the escapees, the source told L'Orient Today.
The Lebanese Army was not available for comment at the time of the publication of this article.
In May, an armed group intercepted a patrol vehicle from Meshmesh police station of the ISF in Akkar, northern Lebanon, and freed a detainee who was being transported to a court hearing.
In 2022, 19 inmates escaped from prison in Jounieh, in the Kesrouan region, and some 30 inmates escaped from the Adlieh detention center in Beirut via a window after clandestinely bringing a tool into the premises. Some of the escapees were later apprehended.
Prison escapes multiplied in a Lebanon ravaged by poverty and economic crisis since 2019, while the value of law enforcement officers' salaries has been dramatically eroded due to the record depreciation of the national currency.