“Lebanon Debate” – Samar dies
Bags containing milk, coffee, and food for children, containing more than seven kilograms of hashish, hidden inside the luggage of a traveler at Rafic Hariri International Airport. Conflicting narratives between a “service for a friend” or a drug smuggling operation from Lebanon and Turkey. The Lebanese judiciary decided its opinion on the file.
The facts of the case go back to three years ago, when the defendant, “Mohamed R.,” was arrested while trying to travel from Rafic Hariri International Airport to Turkey, after he was found in possession of 7,585 grams of cannabis, distributed inside his travel bags, including cardboard boxes and milk bags placed inside the shoulder bag and cargo bag.
During his interrogation before the administrative officer at the airport, he confirmed that he had been working in Turkey for about two years, and that he had come to Lebanon to complete procedures related to registering his son, before he received a call from his childhood friend, “Muhammad H,” who resides in Türkiye, asking him to transport things to Istanbul. He added that he received the bags from a person named “Ahmed” in the Doura locality, then put them inside his bags without opening them or inspecting their contents, believing that they contained milk, coffee, and children’s food.
He pointed out that he delivered one of the bags to a person in Jbeil at the request of “Ahmed,” and that what he did was merely a service to his friend without any financial compensation, denying his knowledge of the presence of drugs inside the locked boxes.
In front of the Central Narcotics Control Office, the accused, “Muhammad R.,” repeated his statements, stressing that he did not know the contents of the items, explaining that his friend, “Muhammad “Muhammad.H,” the phrase “every time like this,” when he was informed of the return of the Nestlé boxes, stated that it was the first time he had transported such packages, despite his acknowledgment that he had previously transported other items to his friend, “Muhammad.H.” A search of his phone also revealed the existence of extensive communications between them, including reassuring messages about him bypassing the “Scan” device at the airport.
Later, “Muhammad. He admitted that he later learned that the items he had previously transported contained marijuana, but he said that he did not inform “Muhammad R” of this when he asked him to transport the last items to Turkey. He added that “Abu Khaled” threatened to kill him after the arrest of “Muhammad R”, which prompted him to leave Turkey and return to Lebanon, where he was arrested.
During the trial, the two defendants denied the charges against them and confirmed that they were not aware of the presence of drugs inside the transported items.
At the conclusion of the trial, the Criminal Court in Mount Lebanon, headed by Judge Elie Al-Hilu, issued its ruling, imposing a temporary hard labor sentence against “Mohammed.H,” and reducing it to three years after granting him mitigating reasons, while counting the period of his pretrial detention, while declaring “Mohammed.R.” innocent due to suspicion and insufficient evidence, and ordered his immediate release.
