Lebanese Army seizes 5 million captagon pills in Zahle

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army said Tuesday it had confiscated around five million captagon pills during a raid in Zahle, in the Bekaa region, part of ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking.

“In the locality of Ferzol, a patrol carried out searches and seized about five million captagon pills,” the military said in a statement, adding that investigations are ongoing to apprehend those responsible.

The announcement follows Monday’s statement by Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar, who said authorities had dismantled an international drug trafficking network and intercepted shipments of hashish and captagon bound for Saudi Arabia. Authorities seized 6.5 million captagon pills intended for export via the Beirut Port and arrested the ringleader along with other members of the network.

Lebanon has faced increasing pressure from Gulf countries to curb narcotics production and trafficking, particularly Captagon, an illegal synthetic amphetamine that was Syria’s main export before the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad.