The Lebanese army announced on Monday that it has busted a drugs and captagon factory in eastern Lebanon.
Suspects involved in smuggling drugs to Syria were also arrested as part of an intense campaign that was launched last week to crack down on the drug trade.
The Lebanese government had vowed in recent weeks to crack down on the illicit activity after it had sparked a crisis between Beirut and Arab Gulf countries. Gulf countries have made numerous drug busts that were traced back to Lebanon.
In a statement on Monday, the army said a military unit and an intelligence bureau patrol raided the houses of several wanted suspects in the town of Brital in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.
They arrested a Syrian national, busted a narcotics factory and seized quantities of cannabis and captagon pills, weapons and ammunition, and several vehicles and motorcycles.
In the Baalbek's Jroud Nahle region, an intelligence bureau patrol arrested a Syrian and two Lebanese nationals for forming a drug smuggling ring that operates abroad.
Last week, authorities carried out several security raids that led to the arrest of suspects and seizure of drug factories.
On Friday, the army arrested a Lebanese man in the Hermel region. He was wanted for several crimes, including theft, firing weapons, terrorizing the people, and drugs and arms smuggling.
That same day, the intelligence bureau referred to the concerned judiciary Lebanese and Syrian nationals on charges of forming a network that smuggles drugs abroad. The army said the network had smuggled narcotics to Germany, Slovakia, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.
