Lebanon’s caretaker government is preparing to issue new legislations that would designate Captagon narcotic pills as an illegal substance.
The current legislations describe Captagon as a stimulant and the penal laws on the smuggling of drugs do not apply to it.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati chaired on Thursday a security and legal meeting dedicated to combating drug smuggling from Lebanon.
The meeting was attended by Justice Minister Henri Khoury, Defense Minister Maurice Slim, Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi, Public Works and Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh, Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Hajj Hassan, head of the Internal Security Forces Imad Othman, State Security chief Tony Saliba and several security, military and customs officials.
Ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting was held after the growing number of complaints from Arab countries over the ongoing smuggling of Captagon to their territories from Lebanon. The illicit operations have strained Lebanon’s relations with Arab countries, significantly Saudi Arabia.
Lebanon has intensified its efforts to crack down on the smuggling, with authorities busting dozens of operations, confiscating millions of Captagon pills and arresting several suspects. They have also destroyed the majority of Captagon factories in Lebanon.
The factories that produce massive amounts of the narcotic are mainly located on the Syrian-Lebanese border and specifically on the Syrian side of the border.
General Secretary of the council of ministers Judge Mahmoud Makkieh stressed before the gatherers “the need to issue new legislations to intensify the fight against drugs and illicit substances and to prevent their smuggling aboard,” revealed the sources.
Hamieh asked: “Where are such massive quantities of Captagon in Lebanon coming from? Are the factories here enough to manufacture such an amount and smuggle them abroad, given that the security and military forces and customs authorities have succeeded in confiscating millions of these pills?”
He was informed that the drugs were being smuggled to Lebanon and abroad from there. They were also being smuggled from Syria, prompting several of the ministers to demand that the Captagon file be included in the agenda of ministerial meetings that could be held in Damascus.
The question remains, will Lebanon’s officials dare to be frank with Syrian officials with the evidence that the massive quantities of Captagon are in fact being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon? How will Damascus respond to Lebanon’s demand for cooperation in combating the smuggling to its territories and from there to Arab countries?
