Captagon pills seize by Lebanese police in November 2025. (Photo released by the ISF.)
BEIRUT — The Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced Friday that it had thwarted a large-scale drug smuggling operation involving nearly eight million Captagon pills, and arrested three suspects, including two who were allegedly the network's key operators.
In a statement, the ISF General Directorate said that on Sept. 6, 2025, the Anti-Narcotics Bureau was informed by Saudi authorities of the seizure of 1,111 kg of Captagon, amounting to 6,875,000 pills, concealed in four containers from the port of Tripoli.
The shipment, packed in paint cans, had been seized at the Jeddah Port while in transit to Kuwait. “We immediately launched investigations, and the person responsible for loading, receiving, and packing the drugs in paint containers and in containers at the port of Tripoli was identified,” the statement explained.
The first suspect, a Lebanese national born in 1985, was arrested during a “complex operation and an ambush.”
His alleged partner was then identified and apprehended after a search was carried out at his home and a warehouse he owned in Bakhoun-Denniyeh. He is a Lebanese national born in 1973. In this warehouse, police discovered 80 bags of Captagon, totaling 1,405 kg — or about eight million pills — as well as 489 barrels of paint intended to store the pills.
In a parallel development, in Baabda, on Sept. 11, a Lebanese national born in 1993 suspected of drug trafficking was also arrested.
The investigation established that he was involved in transporting the drugs from the Bekaa Valley to the aforementioned warehouse, with the intention of shipping them abroad.
According to the statement, “the necessary legal measures have been taken against those arrested,” and the ISF continues its efforts to apprehend “all other individuals involved” in this network.
This announcement comes as a senior Saudi official told Reuters on Thursday that Saudi Arabia plans to soon strengthen its trade ties with Lebanon, after Lebanese authorities demonstrated their effectiveness in combatting drug smuggling to the kingdom in recent months.
