Army Arrests 2 Members of Human Trafficking Ring in Bekaa

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it arrested two members of a human trafficking network in the area of al-Swairi in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

An army communique said that a military patrol raided the house of detainee Fawaz Mohammed Abou Nemri and arrested his wife Alaa Shouman and Syrian Jawdat Zaaar Baydar.

Abou Nemri is in detention for smuggling Syrians to Lebanon.

The woman and the Syrian man have for a long time been involved in operations to forge documents for the purpose of smuggling Syrians to and from Lebanon, said the communique.

Troops found passports, residency permits, seals and other documents – all of them forged – inside the house.

They also seized firearms, ammunition and other military gear.

The detainees and the seized material were referred to the judiciary, the communique added.