Medicines Smuggled from Syria Seized at Arsal Apartment

The Internal Security Forces on Sunday seized 59 boxes of smuggled medications at an apartment in the Bekaa border town of Arsal.

“After obtaining information about the presence of a quantity of medicines that was smuggled from Syria into the town of Arsal, and following investigations, the Arsal police department managed to locate these medications,” ISF's Public Relations Department said in a statement.

An apartment inhabited by Syrian refugees was consequently raided and the smuggler of the medications was arrested, the ISF added.

It identified the apprehended man as 40-year-old Syrian national O. R.

“Fifty-nine boxes of various medicines” were confiscated while the detainee and the seized material were referred to the Bureau for Combating Financial Crimes and Money Laundering for further investigations, the ISF added.

Earlier on Sunday, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) had reported that “the Arsal police station foiled an attempt to smuggle a quantity of medicines into Syria via an illegal border crossing and a truck driver was arrested.”

It later identified the man as Syrian national Omar Ahmed al-Rifai, saying he hails from the Qalamoun region town of Ras al-Maara.

On Friday, the army said it arrested seven Syrians in Arsal for trying to enter Lebanon illegally. The National News Agency said “suspicious” identification papers were found in their possession.

Ever since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, Arsal has served as a key conduit for refugees, rebels and wounded people fleeing strife-torn Syria.

On March 29, Syrian troops managed to recapture Ras al-Maara and nearby Flita in the strategic Qalamoun region near the Lebanese border.

Regime forces, backed by Hizbullah fighters, have been waging a ferocious assault against rebel positions in Qalamoun, north of Damascus, since November.

They seized the rebels' last major stronghold in the region, the town of Yabrud, in mid-March and have since moved on rebel-held villages closer to the border in a bid to stop the flow of weapons and fighters from Lebanon.

Y.R.