The Lebanese government on Thursday announced a decision to stop border smuggling, vowing to seize “all goods illegally entering or leaving Lebanon,” according to a statement by Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad following a cabinet session.
The government said tankers and trucks smuggling goods across the border would be seized and their cargo confiscated.
The Lebanese army also said Thursday that its units operating along the northern and eastern Lebanese-Syrian border have arrested 25 persons and seized tankers and pickup trucks carrying around 215,000 liters of diesel along with two tankers and four pickup trucks carrying 71 tons of flour.
The army leadership stressed that the military units were taking the necessary measures to control border and prevent smuggling through illegal crossings. The detainees would be referred to the competent judicial authorities, the army added.
The Higher Defense Council decided to increase the number of security, military and customs checkpoints on the border with Syria to combat smuggling.
But the Council’s measures were criticized as “disappointing” by the head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea.
“The Higher Defense Council’s decision on Wednesday was very disappointing. We have heard words like this before and it led to no practical results,” he said on Twitter.
“A strict and decisive political decision in the government is required for the Lebanese army, internal security forces and all security apparatuses concerned, to entirely close illegal crossings and stop smuggling between Lebanon and Syria,” he added.
Geagea went on to say that the decisions “in practice” meant the “ongoing loss of hundreds of millions of dollars annually due to smuggling operations taking place at a time when Lebanon is begging from abroad for a handful of dollars,” in reference to the recent government request for assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
