Conflict Incident Report

BEIRUT: Police have busted a drug trafficking network operating between Lebanon and South America, the Internal Security Forces announced Saturday.

The ISF's Information Branch obtained information on malicious operations conducted by 42-year-old A.S., who was tasked with travelling to Ecuador and smuggling a quantity of cocaine base back into Lebanon, which he had swallowed.

The suspect was arrested Thursday in Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport after arriving in the country from Turkey.

The suspect allegedly admitted to the charges and to conducting four operations since 2015 at the behest of J.M., 39, and T.Gh., 57.

The two suspects were arrested in the eastern city of Zahle after a raid on the house of J.M., where authorities confiscated machines used to transform cocaine base into solid cocaine, cocaine, arms and cash.

The suspects and the seized items were referred to the Central Drug Bureau.

A security source told The Daily Star Thursday that the Information Bureau had raided a cocaine factory on the outskirts of Zahle in east Lebanon Friday.

Three people were arrested, including two brothers and a woman.

Authorities had been monitoring the facility, which was one of the largest cocaine production centers in the country, the source said.

The Lebanese Army has carried out several raids over the past few months in a major crackdown on the illicit business.

Earlier this week, army intelligence raided residences belonging to Nouh Zeaiter, one of the most prominent drug dealers in the Bekaa region.

Large quantities of drugs were confiscated but Zeaiter was not apprehended. The house of another fugitive in east Lebanon, identified as Aa.A., was raided Tuesday. Captagon pills, hashish and weapons were found at the site.