The Lebanese Army on Saturday carried out a widespread military operation in the Bekaa with large parts of the area, especially the village of Brital, being subjected to immediate control by the government’s armed forces.
“It was the biggest such raid by the army since 1943,” security sources said. Military units started entering the heart of Brital and neighboring villages, where they arrested a gang accused of smuggling weapons to Syria and Iraq.
The army used light and heavy vehicles, together with helicopters, in the raid. Several members of the army’s intelligence units also took part in the raid and conducted an investigation into the “source of the weaponry, which was being smuggled across the border.”
At 4am on Saturday, two army units started advancing in the direction of the hills surrounding Brital, allegedly the long-term stronghold of outlaws involved in numerous car robberies and drug-smuggling operations. It then started raiding houses in Brital and neighboring towns, and a large number of wanted men surrendered to the army. It arrested an arms-smuggling ring, from which it seized more than 22 anti-tank rockets and about 40 rocket-propelled grenades, in addition to ammunition and more than 100,000 rounds for automatic guns. The army also seized some 40 heavy and light rifles, several landmines and large quantities of heroin and cocaine.
The army did not specify in a statement, the number of people it had arrested in the crackdown on the Brital district, but a local security officer was quoted as saying that seven people were nabbed.
The group allegedly operated between Lebanon and Arab countries, the army said, without specifying the countries.
It added that the arrests took place with the cooperation of Syrian security services and army intelligence.
Lebanese gang leader Abbas Tleis, 55, was killed Friday in a shoot-out with an army patrol in the same district, the army said, adding that the victim had led a criminal career that ranged from drug trafficking and auto theft to dealing in counterfeit money and murder.
His son Hassan, in his 30s, was seriously wounded in the clash and taken to hospital, while another son, Hamad, was detained in connection with an outstanding arrest warrant. It is not known whether the shoot-out and Saturday’s arrests were related.
A Daily Star source within the raiding forces said that the town of Brital, where more than 30,000 people lived, provided shelter for more than 300 wanted men.
But the 300 wanted men, along with their relatives, would add up to 2000 people and “would have given the army a good run for its money had it been engaged in direct fighting with the outlaws,” the source said.
A major armed clash with the outlaws in Brital could have resulted in serious political consequences for the government of Premier Rafik Hariri, the source also pointed out.
The raiding forces had secured the help of the Syrian forces in carrying out the bust and with this direct help, Lebanese authorities can look forward to confiscating dozens more stolen cars and arresting dozens more outlaws, who are allegedly involved in drug smuggling and car theft.
As it stands now, the raid has led to the seizure nine stolen cars. But the owners of only five of the vehicles are known, while the other four cannot be identified as their chassis numbers had been wiped out.
However, the five known owners said that the thieves were demanding ransoms of between $3,000 and $5,000 in return for the stolen cars.