Beirut port foils attempt to smuggle 2 tons of drug to Egypt

Lebanon's finance chief said on Tuesday that Beirut port Customs has foiled an attempt to smuggle three tons of Captagon pills and Hashish heading for Egypt.

"Lebanon has favorably upheld its reputation in the war on drugs, successfully preventing several drug smuggling attempts this year," finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil told a press conference in the port.

The minister pledged that Lebanon will never permit feasible entry for drug smugglers, but did not disclose if any arrests were made.

Tuesday's snare comes a day following the detention of a 28-year-old Brazilian man by Customs officers for attempting to smuggle two kg of cocaine through Beirut's Rafik Hariri International airport.

The cocaine was packed in vacuum-sealed plastic bags, hidden in two baggages, which were then enclosed in a bigger suitcase, according to an official statement.

Captagon, based on the amphetamine phenethylline, a synthetic stimulant, is a very popular drug in the Middle East. It is classified by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime as an "amphetamine type stimulant" and usually blends amphetamine, caffeine and other substances.

Beirut Airport authorities have recently escalated efforts to counter drug smuggling.

Last month, a Peruvian citizen was arrested after it was discovered he had ingested a batch of condoms filled with liquid cocaine. Endit