BEIRUT: Lebanese customs officials have seized five tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills and hashish at Beirut airport, concealed in primary school desks that were to be shipped to Egypt, a security source says.
Meanwhile, security forces in northern Lebanon found two workshops producing Captagon and other drugs during a series of raids, the source said.
Both events came after a number of drug seizures at Beirut airport in recent months, including one that led to the arrest on charges of smuggling of a Saudi prince.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said the operation at the airport was one of the biggest of its kind, and that the drugs could have been smuggled onto other countries after Egypt, without elaborating.
“We will not allow Lebanon to be a transit point for drugs,” Mr Khalil said, quoted by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
The NNA said that the quantity seized was three tonnes.
There were no immediate reports of arrests.
