Mashnouq Holds Onto Security Plan as Armed Forces Seek to Arrest Top Bekaa Criminals

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has held onto a security plan as officials said security agencies would seek to arrest more than 50 people whose names are on a list of wanted suspects in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal daily published on Monday, al-Mashnouq said: “There is no going back on the security plan and there is no hesitation.”

Contacts and consultations among the different sides are ongoing to continue with the implementation of the plan that was approved by the government last month, he added.

The cabinet has tasked the army and security forces with seizing stockpiled arms and controlling the security situation in Tripoli and the Bekaa in areas bordering Syria.

The plan went into affect last week as the army entered several Tripoli hotspots. The armed forces have also taken full control of a highway in the northeast once patrolled by gunmen.

The army is now in charge of all checkpoints on the road linking the towns of Arsal and Hermel near the Syrian border.

An Nahar newspaper quoted security officials as saying that agencies have the names of 56 suspects in the Bekaa.

The officials, who were not identified, said there was a conclusive decision to arrest them.

The suspects are accused of carrying car thefts, abductions in return for ransom, shooting soldiers and booby-trapping cars.

“There is no zero hour to carry out the arrests,” the officials said.

“Special forces will handle the issue to guarantee the success of the plan,” they told An Nahar.

G.K.

H.K.