A woman was arrested in Arab Salim (Nabatieh district) for her alleged involvement in smuggling cancer medication through Beirut's international airport and selling it in the black market. (Credit: Released by ISF on Dec. 18, 2025)
A woman was arrested Monday in Arab Salim (Nabatieh, southern Lebanon) for her alleged involvement in a cancer drug smuggling operation through Rafik Hariri International Airport, with the medications then sold on the black market, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced Thursday.
Born in 1985, the Lebanese suspect was apprehended based on an arrest warrant issued as part of an investigation into fraud, along with four other warrants related to fraud and endangering others, all linked to a case involving the brother of Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil, according to the ISF.
"The judicial police unit in Beirut's southern suburbs received information indicating that a woman considered one of the main suspects in the case was present in the locality of Arab Salim," the ISF said in a statement.
They added that the suspect was detained by a patrol during an operation carried out in coordination with the Nabatieh judicial police unit.
The woman was identified by the initials Z.C., the same as those of a person recognized as a partner in the implicated pharmaceutical import company, linked to the ex-wife of Mohammad Khalil, a General Security officer and brother of former minister Ali Hassan Khalil. Mohammad Khalil, arrested in connection with the case, was released on bail in November. Z.C.'s husband was also among those arrested.
L’Orient-Le Jour reached out to the ISF for further comment on the case, but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Smuggling has surged in Lebanon as the financial crisis worsened from 2019 onward, making access to foreign currency difficult and pharmaceutical imports especially challenging.
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