5 Potato smugglers arrested while entering Lebanon

Lebanese Customs officials and Army personnel have arrested five potato smugglers in the Bekaa region, local media reported Saturday. A unit from Lebanese Customs arrested Lebanese national S.Aa. after he was reportedly caught smuggling Syrian potatoes into Lebanon. Four other traders were arrested at the same time, also on suspicion of smuggling, given that they were transporting into Lebanon boxes marked "Lebanese potatoes.” The legal and under-the-table import of potatoes into Lebanon from neighboring countries has long been a problem for Lebanese farmers, as the foreign goods undercut the market for local produce. Earlier this year, a delegation of potato farmers asked now-caretaker Agriculture Minister Ghazi Zeaiter to stop the import of Egyptian potatoes since the local production was in surplus and imports were affecting potato prices. Akkar MP Tarek Merehbi has also called for the cessation of Syrian potatoes being “smuggled” into Lebanon, due to the adverse effect these foreign potatoes were having on the local market. Lebanese potato farmers won a significant victory in May this year, when they gained the right to export their produce to the European Union.