State Security in Akkar Arrests Human Smuggler for Syrians

The Directorate of State Security announced in a statement that after receiving information regarding a Lebanese individual nicknamed Abu Joni, who was smuggling people from Syria to Lebanon for financial compensation, monitoring and follow-up were conducted. It was revealed that he resides in the town of Qabaa in Wadi Khaled and is named (A. H.). Consequently, a patrol from the Qabaa office raided his location, which was being used for selling tobacco and illegally exchanging currency for the Syrians he was smuggling. The patrol members managed to arrest him during his attempt to flee. During the investigation, he confessed to smuggling Syrians through the illegal crossing “Al-Sharika Al-Muttahida” and admitted to receiving financial compensation from Syrians for brokering their files and assisting them with United Nations-affiliated associations. It was noted that “as a result of his confessions, it was revealed that he has been smuggling about 20 Syrians daily for the past three years, and he is connected to another gang that works on transferring Syrians to other areas within Lebanon. The investigation is ongoing to uncover the remaining members of the gang, under the supervision of the competent judiciary.”