Salam and Jaber vow tighter border controls after record airport cocaine seizure

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam congratulated General Security and Lebanese Customs on Sunday for foiling an attempt to smuggle about 47 kilograms of cocaine through Rafic Hariri International Airport, the largest drug seizure in the airport’s history, MTV reported.

Salam said Lebanon’s land, sea and air crossings would not be allowed to serve as routes for drug smuggling, money laundering or any other illegal activity, and pledged that the government would keep strengthening oversight of the borders, coordination between agencies and the pursuit of smuggling networks and organised crime.

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, who oversees customs, praised the coordination between the Customs Administration and General Security that produced the seizure, Daily Beirut reported. He said customs officers had uncovered a professional concealment method designed to defeat scanners.

Jaber said recent customs appointments were meant to revive the service and tighten oversight at land, sea and air crossings, adding that customs’ job was to protect citizens’ health, treasury revenue and the national economy, and to restore confidence abroad in Lebanon’s ability to control its borders.

The seizure comes as the government tries to show donors and Gulf partners that the state, not armed groups or smugglers, controls Lebanon’s gateways.