Lebanon security sting targets crime gangs, smuggling networks

BEIRUT: Drug gang and human trafficking ringleaders were arrested in a joint security operation targeting smuggling hotspots on the Lebanon-Syria border on Saturday.
Large quantities of drugs, weapons and ammunitions were also seized in the combined Lebanese Army and Intelligence Directorate operation, which struck several locations in the northern Bekaa Valley simultaneously.
Army and security personnel closed three illegal crossings used by human trafficking gangs and vehicle smugglers in Fessani, Wadi Al-Turkman, and Zeghrine in the Hermel district on the northeastern border with Syria.
Military intelligence also raided Syrian refugee camps and houses in Masharih Al-Qaa, a Lebanese region that overlaps Syrian territory, and arrested two Syrian nationals wanted in connection with Captagon smuggling and human trafficking.
The two suspects were found with a large quantity of hashish and Captagon pills, a military source said.
Another Syrian national, a member of a car theft and armed robbery gang, was also arrested.
The gang fired on intelligence directorate personnel two months ago in Brital in the Baalbek-Hermel region.
A Syrian national wanted on a string of weapons and narcotics charges was also arrested in the raids.
In a coordinated ambush in Hermel, the Lebanese army in cooperation with the intelligence directorate arrested two Lebanese nationals, one said to be the leader of a human trafficking gang, while they were smuggling Syrians through illegal mountain crossings.
The raid in Hermel also targeted a kidnapping and drug smuggling gang operating between Lebanon and Syria, the military source said.
Residents of Masharih Al-Qaa last month complained about criminal activity in the border area, including illegal crossings by Syrians who carry out thefts, murders and kidnappings for ransom.
The arrests follow a visit by army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun to the 1st Land Border Regiment on Lebanon’s northern border with Syria.
Aoun warned that terrorists, as well as arms and drug smugglers, could easily cross uncontrolled borders, and urged soldiers to be “patient because security cannot be compromised.”
The army chief said: “We are safeguarding the supreme national interest, which for us remains an absolute priority.”
In a speech on Friday night, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah suggested that sending a ministerial security delegation to Damascus would help address the refugee issue.
Lebanon deported about 50 Syrians last month.
All had entered Lebanon illegally, but it is unknown whether they were registered as refugees by the UNHCR.
The deportations continue to spark protests by international institutions.
In a statement, 20 Lebanese and global organizations said on Saturday that the deportations come amid an alarming surge in anti-refugee rhetoric in Lebanon and other coercive measures intended to pressure refugees to return to their countries.
The statement was signed by groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Deportations should be halted and due process respected, it said.
Lebanese authorities had “deliberately mismanaged the country’s economic crisis, but instead of adopting much-needed reforms, they have instead resorted to scapegoating refugees for their own failures,” it added.
The organizations said that they “continue to document horrific violations committed against Syrian returnees, including unlawful or arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, rape and sexual violence, and enforced disappearance.”

Lebanon security sting targets crime gangs, smuggling networks