Saudi ambassador says drugs smuggled from Lebanon enough to drown Arab world

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon has revealed that large quantities of drugs smuggled from Lebanon — “enough to drown the whole Arab world” — have been seized before entering the Kingdom over the past few years.

Walid Al-Bukhari told Lebanese MTV channel on Sunday that, “The smuggled drugs were not meant to be distributed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia only, but also in different parts of the Arab world.”

The ambassador praised the position of Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, the Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. The Patriarch’s rejection of targeting Saudi Arabia through drug smuggling must be appreciated, he added.

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More than 600 million pills and hundreds of kilograms of cannabis were among narcotics and psychotropic substances seized during the previous six years, explained Al-Bukhari. Last Friday, Saudi Arabia announced that it had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 2.4 million narcotic tablets into the Kingdom hidden in a shipment of pomegranates.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah is accused of having elements responsible for drug trafficking in Lebanon and smuggling narcotics abroad. The armed movement has categorically denied such accusations on more than one occasion.