20 kg of Captagon seized at Beirut's airport

The Internal Security Forces seized 20 kg of Captagon pills in the luggage of four Turkish nationals who were heading to Kuwait at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday night.

The Lebanese Army recently announced the dismantling of a major Captagon pill factory in Yammouneh, in the Baalbeck region (Bekaa), calling it "one of the largest factories seized to date."

Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar welcomed the seizure and arrest of the four Turkish nationals “as they were leaving Beirut for Kuwait via the airport's VIP lounge.” He specified that the Captagon pills were concealed “in belts wrapped around their bodies” and that an investigation had been launched. The Interior Ministry also reaffirmed “its total commitment to the fight against drug smuggling,” emphasizing that “this issue is one of its priorities.”

Captagon is a cheap synthetic drug that was once produced mainly in makeshift factories in Syria, largely under the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who has since been ousted. Such makeshift facilities also multiplied along the Syrian-Lebanese border, some of which remain in operation. Hezbollah, which allied with the former regime during the Syrian Civil War, is reportedly involved in several of these networks, as are Lebanese Shiite clans, notably in the Hermel region.