Lebanese Ministry of Information
The following security-related incidents took place across the country Wednesday: BEIRUT BANK ROBBED
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT Two masked men stormed into a bank in Beirut and stole an estimated $70,000 a security source told The Daily Star. The suspects, one with a handgun, fired once inside the Al Baraka Bank branch in the Cola neighborhood to scare employees and customers. No casualties were reported. Both assailants fled on a motorcycle. The source said there were no cameras inside the bank but the cameras on the exterior of the building were able to capture the license plate number of the getaway motorcycle. Police were pursuing the suspects late Wednesday night.
MOTORCYCLIST KILLED IN BEIRUT HIT-AND-RUN A motorcyclist was killed when a truck hit him on the old airport road in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Traffic Management Center reported. The truck driver did not stop. The motorcyclist was identified as 55-year-old A.Z. Authorities are checking security footage from the area in an effort to identify the truck and its driver, a security source told The Daily Star. There were 1,401 road accidents leading to 200 fatalities in the first half of 2017, according to road safety NGO Kunhadi. There were 1,706 accidents leading to 218 deaths during the same period in 2016.
PALESTINIANS ARRESTED DURING DRUG DEALThree Palestinian nationals were arrested over the weekend during a drug deal in Sidon, the Internal Security Forces announced Wednesday. The men were believed to be purchasing the drugs for M.Aa., a Palestinian fugitive in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, known as Mohammad al-Iraqi. The three were identified as 21-year-old Aa.Aa. and 31-year-old Aa.B., who admitted to purchasing illicit drugs from 53-year-old M.N. Police confiscated 2,000 strawberry-flavored Tramadol pills, three small plastic bags of cocaine, salvia, hashish, two packages of rolling paper, a utility knife and two cellphones. The contraband was in a Mercedes vehicle the three were riding in at the time of the deal. The ISF statement added that the three were planning to sell the drugs in the camp for between $200 and $400. The men were transferred to judiciary.
SUSPECTS ARRESTED FOR FORGING DOCUMENTS General Security arrested five suspects on charges of forging official documents. The five individuals, whose nationalities were not disclosed, were apprehended over the last week for forging travel documents in order to facilitate the movement of individuals from Lebanon to European, Asian and African countries, according to a General Security statement released Wednesday. Another suspect was also detained for human trafficking and illegally facilitating the movement of individuals across the Lebanese border. The suspects were all referred to the judiciary after General Security concluded investigations.
SYRIAN SHOT DEAD IN ARSAL A Syrian national was killed in a makeshift Syrian refugee camp in northeast Lebanon, a security source told The Daily Star. Z.Aa. died after he was shot in the Al-Noor camp in Arsal but sources said they did not believe the death was linked to militant groups in the area. “There is no evidence that Daesh [ISIS] or Jabhat al-Nusra [the group formerly known as the Nusra Front] had anything to do with it,” the source told The Daily Star. “This appears to be a personal dispute over money or something else.” No further information was given.
