Lebanon detains 2 suspected of drug smuggling to Saudi

Lebanon's outgoing interior minister says authorities have arrested two brothers suspected of sending a shipment of drugs to Saudi Arabia

BEIRUT -- Lebanese authorities have arrested two brothers suspected of smuggling drugs in pomegranate shipments to Saudi Arabia, leading the kingdom to ban Lebanese fruits and vegetables, the outgoing interior minister said Sunday. Mohamed Fehmi told local MTV television station during a tour to the Lebanon-Syria border that Interpol is also following a third suspect. He gave no further details, saying only that the case is still under investigation. In late April, Saudi Arabia announced it had seized over 5 million pills of the amphetamine Captagon hidden in a shipment of pomegranates coming from Lebanon. Fehmi said that 2,000 pomegranates out of about 80,000 in the shipment were filled with Captagon pills. “It is very difficult to find them without scanners,” Fehmi said.