Lebanese businessman George Dib, known as "Dr. Food," has transformed from one of the prominent celebrities to a suspect in the manufacturing and trafficking of drugs. This follows a decision by the investigative judge in Mount Lebanon, Judge Ziad Dagheidi, to charge him with these serious crimes. A judicial source informed "Asharq Al-Awsat" that Dagheidi summoned Dib for an interrogation session scheduled for Monday at his office in the Palace of Justice in Baabda, to question him and allow him to present his defense regarding the charges against him, as well as to confront him with evidence that strengthens the suspicions around his involvement in drug-related crimes.
Dagheidi has charged George Dib and an unnamed Syrian individual with crimes of drug manufacturing, trafficking, and smuggling abroad. This comes under Article 125 of the Narcotics Law, supplemented by Article 13, which stipulates temporary hard labor ranging from 5 to 10 years. This decision was based on information available to the investigative judge indicating that Dib exploited his fame and his company, dedicated to food and candy production, for drug trafficking activities.
The threads of this case began to unfold four months ago when the security apparatus at Rafic Hariri International Airport detected, at the beginning of the year, food products manufactured at Dr. Food's facilities that were stuffed with drugs and prepared for export to a Gulf country. George Dib was interrogated at that time, where he firmly denied that the goods belonged to him or that they were produced in his facilities. He claimed they were counterfeit and that someone used his business name in this operation. However, he admitted to using drugs but denied trafficking them, leading to the prosecution only charging him with drug use in Mount Lebanon, after which he was released.
George Dib is considered a successful businessman, known for offering culinary consultations. He has a significant influence on the food served in Lebanese and foreign restaurants and manages these establishments. He owns a candy factory and is famous for exporting his products abroad, especially to Arab countries, and has millions of followers on social media.
Dib's testimony did not satisfy the investigative judge, who deemed that the case required evidence to confirm or refute Dib's statements. The judicial source confirmed that upon receiving the case file, Judge Dagheidi issued a request to security agencies to subject the seized goods to examination and analysis, verifying whether they are counterfeit and not produced by George Dib's factories. Notably, the analysis results, which were delayed for over three months, revealed that the food materials indeed belonged to his factory, prompting the charges against him alongside the Syrian individual caught with the goods at the airport during shipping.
To further build the evidential framework, Judge Dagheidi instructed security agencies to investigate the communication traffic relating to two telephone numbers that are under suspicion and to ascertain whether the numbers had contacted the Syrian individual who was arrested at Beirut Airport during the cargo shipping. The source pointed out that the mentioned person denied any connection between the so-called "Dr. Food" and the shipment containing drugs, providing a false name for the goods' owner and claiming ignorance of his full identity.
