• The drugs were “professionally” concealed in wooden figures inside a bulletproof box, the statement said, without specifying the type of narcotics seized

BEIRUT: Lebanon has seized more than half a ton of drugs destined for Kuwait, authorities said Sunday, as Beirut seeks to combat narcotics trafficking, particularly to Gulf countries.

Authorities “seized around 800 kilogrammes (1,760 pounds) of drugs” bound for Kuwait via the Netherlands, the office of Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said in a statement carried by Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).

The drugs were “professionally” concealed in wooden figures inside a bulletproof box, the statement said, without specifying the type of narcotics seized.

An individual allegedly involved in the trafficking operation was arrested, it added.

The move came as part of “ongoing intensive security cooperation between the Kuwaiti and Lebanese interior ministries,” the statement said.

Lebanese authorities have ramped up efforts to counter the production and trafficking of stimulant captagon after backlash from conservative Gulf nations.

Most of the Middle East’s captagon is produced in Syria and Lebanon, and smuggled to its main consumer market in the Gulf.

AFP