The Lebanese army intelligence has arrested 16 people, mostly Syrians, for illegal money transfers, as the government cracks down on exchange rate manipulation.
The army’s general command said in a communique that it had arrested 13 Syrians and three Lebanese, who were carrying out "money transfers and illegal currency exchange transactions, using licensed companies and offices as a front.”
The suspects used an "unlicensed online platform belonging to one of the financial companies," to carry out the financial transactions, the communique said.
During the arrests in 12 different regions across Lebanon, the army seized "significant sums" but also computers and laptops used in these operations, the communique added.
The Lebanese pound has been pegged to the dollar at 1,507 since 1997 but the country's worst economic crisis in decades has seen its value plunge to beyond 4,000 on the black market.
The government has sought to stem the fall by launching a nationwide crackdown on money changers it says are exchanging the pound for dollars at a rate weaker than the 3,200 per dollar permitted by the central bank.
The network sent dollars with motorists across the border to Syria, specifically to the northwestern province of Idlib, a security official said.
After land borders closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the network started using an "illegal online platform" controlled by a Lebanese money changer, the official added.
Security forces this week arrested that suspect, and found "hundreds of thousands of dollars" stashed in his Beirut home, he said.
Investigations later led to a Syrian residing in Lebanon who was also arrested for involvement in the plot along with several of his Lebanese and Syrian affiliates, according to the official.
