BEIRUT -To those who knew him, the Hezbollah-supporting car dealer from Nabatiyeh seemed an unlikely Israeli spy. But as Marwan Faqih adjusts to life in military custody, new details have emerged about his secret double life as an undercover agent for the Jewish state.

Sources close to Hezbollah quoted by the Al-Balad daily on Thursday gave a fascinating glimpse into the secret world of international espionage inhabited by Faqih. The paper said that Faqih was accredited as a "safe" supplier of vehicles to Hezbollah after winning the trust of party officials in Nabatiyeh by making regular donations to the group. During the summer 2006 war with Israel, he even handed control of his petrol station over to Hezbollah fighters.

No-one suspected that every car he sold them was fitted with a satellite monitoring device that allowed Israeli intelligence agents to track their every move. In the end, the paper's sources say, it was a routine repair that led to the discovery of Faqih's secret double life.

According to the report, an auto electrician was trying to fix a problem with a Hezbollah vehicle when he discovered an "unfamiliar device" attached to the electrical system that he thought might have been causing the problem.

Thinking that it may have been fitted by Hezbollah, the electrician had a discreet word with the vehicle's owner, pointing out that the device was interfering with the car. But whatever it was, it had not been placed by Hezbollah, and a search of the party's fleet of vehicles revealed dozens of the mystery devices.

Investigations revealed that they were satellite wire tap devices and they were only present on vehicles supplied from one particular car dealer in Nabatiyeh: Marwan Faqih. Years of gathering intelligence about notoriously secretive Hezbollah on behalf of their sworn enemies were about to come to an end.

It had begun in France in the mid-1990s, when Faqih was approached by Mossad agents who asked him to gather information about Hezbollah and the Lebanese army in return for payment. He returned to Lebanon to begin his task, and over the years, the Israelis developed what was to become a prime intelligence asset located in the heartland of their most bitter and formidable enemies.

They provided Faqih with specialist software that allowed him to establish secure internet connections so he could send the intelligence he gathered, and met with him on his frequent trips to France. They even took him to Israel on four separate occasions, to train him in the latest espionage communications technology. And all the while, he sold bugged cars to Hezbollah that helped Israeli agents to build a picture of movements and conversations of the party's officials.

If it hadn't been for the discovery of the satellite device, the deception might have gone unnotcied. But once Hezbollah had traced the origins of the equipment to Faqih, his days of freedom were numbered. A senior Lebanese security official told The Daily Star on Thursday that Hezbollah conducted an investigation into Faqih and discovered that he "was using the internet and other complex technological devices" to communicate with Israeli agents.

The official said that Hezbollah had arrested the spy and handed him over to the Lebanese army ten days ago. But he was unable to comment on the details of the Al-Balad story.

"The army and the judiciary cannot confirm or deny what Hezbollah are saying about the satellite device," he said. "They are carrying out their own investigation to find whether he was part of a larger cell which will be completed before the case is handed over to the judiciary." Faqih is now in the custody of the army's intelligence wing. No formal charges have been filed against him.

Hezbollah is said to have reviewed its security procedures in response to the discovery of the spy in their midst. "Hezbollah has beefed up its security measures in the south," the security official said. -Daily Star