Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi denied on Thursday that the security forces had confiscated two cars on the Lebanese-Syrian border that were attempting to smuggle arms to Syria, said media reports on Friday.

Reports said on Thursday that the border patrol had arrested a Lebanese and Syrian while they were trying to cross the border to Syria in cars loaded with arms in the eastern Bekaa region.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi described last week’s mutiny at Roumieh prison as an “organized rebellion” which could have spiraled out of control had the authorities not put an end to it.

“The protest movements that renewed at Roumieh prison last Monday and were accompanied by the burning of tires in (several) regions, showed that there was a single unit moving both the prisoners and their families,” Rifi told An Nahar daily in remarks published Wednesday.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Thursday that the prison file will be a priority for the new government where it will implement “radical solutions to its chronic problems.”

He made his statements during a meeting with caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, and acting gendarmerie chief Salah Jebran on the prison file.

A meeting between Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza, Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, and acting gendarmerie chief Salah Jebran on the situation of prisons in Lebanon was held on Wednesday at the Center House.

The gatherers said in a statement that the prison file concerns all governments and ministries and “the violation of jail security is a red line that should not be crossed.”

Security forces stormed Lebanon's notorious main prison of Roumieh on Tuesday where three prison guards were being detained by inmates who have been rioting since the weekend demanding an amnesty and better conditions.

"We have gained full control over the Roumieh prison after a joint operation by the army and the Internal Security Forces," said ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi after his arrival at the prison to follow up on the situation.

The Internal Security Forces leadership is investigating the involvement of wardens in the smuggling of drugs and mobile phones to inmates at Roumieh prison and would take “disciplinary measures” against them, ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi said.

An Nahar newspaper said Monday a “scandal” erupted after several prisoners made phone calls to television stations from inside their cells during the two-day mutiny over the weekend.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi on Sunday announced the end of a two-day mutiny by inmates demanding an amnesty and better conditions in Lebanon's notorious main prison of Roumieh.

Rifi reassured "the Lebanese and the prisoners that the mutiny ended permanently and peacefully."

Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi revealed that no injuries were reported during Saturday’s protest at Roumieh prison, adding that no one was taken hostage by any of the protestors.

He told An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday: “The inmates have demands and we are working on fulfilling them if they are justified.”

The father and brother of Wael Abbas, the alleged leader of the group that kidnapped seven Estonian tourists in the Bekaa Valley last week, are in the custody of the Internal Security Forces, ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi said.

Earlier, the media had identified the ringleader as Darwish Khanjar.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi has unveiled that the Intelligence Bureau has so far arrested four people involved in the kidnapping of the seven Estonian tourists in the Bekaa Valley last week.

In remarks to An Nahar daily on Wednesday, Rifi said that the four men are suspected of providing the kidnappers with the van and a stolen Mercedes to carry out the abduction operation.