The Lebanese navy radar off the coast of Tripoli. (Credit: Marie Jo Sader/L'Orient Today)
NORTH LEBANON — The Lebanese Army announced Monday that it had arrested, in the Mina area of Tripoli, two Lebanese men "for their involvement in people smuggling activities by sea."
They are also suspected of "demanding a sum of money from a citizen in exchange for his participation in a smuggling operation that had already been foiled." Two weapons were seized in their possession.
The army specified in its statement that "the search is ongoing to arrest the other individuals involved."
Migrants leaving Lebanon clandestinely generally aim to reach Cyprus. Most are Syrians who came to Lebanon after fleeing the civil war that erupted in Syria under the Assad regime. Th subsequent economic crisis in Lebanon has further pushed Syrians, as well as Palestinians and Lebanese, to leave the country, sometimes through clandestine means. The army regularly announces that it has foiled attempts at illegal migration off the coast of northern Lebanon. Some of these migrations have resulted in deaths at sea.
