Lebanese and Saudi flags. (Credit: Illustration photo Joseph EID/AFP)
BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia plans to soon strengthen its trade relations with Lebanon after Lebanese authorities demonstrated their effectiveness in combating drug smuggling to the kingdom in recent months, a senior Saudi official told Reuters on Thursday.
In September, Lebanese authorities announced they had dismantled an international drug trafficking network and thwarted a shipment of hashish and captagon pills bound for Saudi Arabia.
The Lebanese Army also announced in mid-September that it had seized around 64 million captagon pills in the Bekaa, describing it as one of the most significant operations ever carried out against this drug in Lebanon.
The Lebanese Army and security services have stepped up the fight against drug trafficking in recent months, under pressure from Gulf countries, as these amphetamines have flooded the region, as well as from the United States, which accuses Hezbollah of profiting from it.
