Hidden drugs and pills: Inside Lebanon's airport seizures

Report by Lara El Hachem, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi  

Swallowing drugs to conceal them may sound like a scene from a crime drama, but it can be deadly. 

Capsules packed with narcotics are often wrapped for easier ingestion and later recovery, but they carry serious risks. They can block the intestines or cause bacterial infections, and if they leak, the drugs inside can poison the carrier.

Despite these dangers, traffickers continue to rely on this method for money, without thinking of the consequences. 

Lebanon's Anti-Narcotics Bureau, working in conjunction with customs at Beirut's Rafic Hariri Airport, recently intercepted a Brazilian passenger arriving on Qatar Airways from Brazil via Doha. 

The operation followed security information shared by authorities in Qatar as the two countries cooperated to disrupt the activity. While initial manual and electronic inspections revealed nothing, the bureau insisted on further questioning. It was then discovered that the passenger had swallowed 133 capsules of cocaine.

Investigations are still underway, but the shipment's route suggests a broader network. 

Security sources note that drug couriers are often only "delivery workers," while the cocaine smuggled into Lebanon is usually intended for local use rather than re-export. To avoid strict checks on direct flights from Latin America, traffickers increasingly attempt to bypass controls by transiting through third countries.

The cocaine case was not the only major bust this month. 

Airport security also stopped four Turkish nationals carrying nearly 20 kilograms of captagon pills as they prepared to board a flight from Beirut to Kuwait. The men were in the VIP lounge and appeared confident, but security forces discovered the drugs hidden in compression belts strapped to their bodies. 

Sources declared that captagon is primarily destined for Gulf states, where it is cheap to produce but highly profitable.

Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar announced the Kuwait-bound seizure, framing it as part of the government's commitment to blocking narcotics smuggling to Gulf countries to protect Lebanon's diplomatic and trade ties.