Lebanon has confiscated a huge consignment of the illegal drug Captagon in what is one of its biggest busts yet.
The Lebanese army said it took 64 million Captagon pills and 79 barrels of chemicals at a site in the town of Boudai in Baalbek district. It also found machines allegedly being used to manufacture the drug.
The army said it tracked the movements of trafficking gangs in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley before staging the raid. The area, where Hezbollah has strongholds, has been known for years as a centre of Captagon production.
Countries around the Middle East are eager to shut down the trade in the highly addictive amphetamine, which was produced on a mass scale during Syria's civil war and often smuggled across Lebanon's border. This week, Lebanon said it had seized 6.5 million Captagon pills – and 700kg of cannabis – that were being prepared for trafficking to Saudi Arabia.
The latest raid “is considered one of the most significant, resulting in the seizure of one of the largest quantities of drugs within Lebanese territory,” the army said. It appeared at least some of the suspects were still at large, however, as the army described efforts to arrest them as “continuing”.
Lebanon is embarking on a highly sensitive process to bring all weapons in the country under the army's control. That will involve disarming Hezbollah, which emerged weakened from last year's war with Israel but has promised to resist the plan.
The post-Assad regime in Syria has accused Lebanon's Hezbollah of backing drugs and weapons traffickers at the border. The two countries hope to sign an agreement on preventing smuggling.
Syria's new government has also launched a crackdown on domestic Captagon manufacturing and announced in June that “all production facilities” had been shut down, but further raids have taken place.
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