Conflict Incident Report

The Internal Security Forces Thursday announced the arrest of two men involved in running a drug den and market in the Baalbeck town of Brital, an ISF statement said.

The suspects, identified as Aa.S., and H.A., were arrested in a raid by the ISF Information Division’s Special Forces on July 15. The ISF said the two acted as armed guards for the drug den, as well as being involved in its establishment. The agency said the raid was planned to take place when the two men were sleeping. After locating the room in which they slept, the ISF planned and executed the raid at dawn, preventing them from using weapons in their possession.

The security forces seized a single black and olive colored Toyota FJ Cruiser, which it said was found to have been stolen, in addition to finding a large quantity of drugs and weapons.

These included: five RPG casings and rockets; two assault rifles; four grenades; a grenade launcher; nine kilos of hashish; 245 grams of salvia; 93 boxes of Tramadol; four boxes of the Codeine-based cough syrup Simo; 6071 captagon pills; 79 glass vials of ketamine; eight bags of marijuana; 72 grams of cocaine; equipment for manufacturing and cooking drugs; four surveillance cameras; an amount of money and documents from people whose cars were stolen.

The ISF said the suspects admitted to being involved in the drug trade, as well as participating in the establishment of a center in Brital to receive customers who sought to abuse and buy drugs. They also admitted to participating in 12 kidnappings and stealing roughly 16 cars, ISF said.