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Egypt foils attempt to smuggle 3.5 tons of hashish from Lebanon to Libya

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Egyptian security officials foiled a plan to smuggle 3.5 tons of hashish from Lebanon to Libya on Monday, according to a statement by Lebanon’s Anti-Drug bureau of the Judicial Police.

The drugs were being transported from Lebanon to a ship called “Mare Ta Queen,” which was docked just outside Lebanon’s regional waters, according to Beirut-based newspaper An-Nahar.

Judicial Police say the ship was headed to Tobruq, a port city on Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast, but was stopped by Egyptian officials near the coast of Damietta.

Authorities confiscated the ship’s cargo and detained all those on board.

Investigations are underway to locate the drug gang in Lebanon, which sources say most likely originates from the Bekaa Valley.

The latest smuggling operation comes just a few hours after drugs were found on two Venezuelan nationals who were attempting to travel to Lebanon with four kilograms of cocaine.

Security officials say they were arrested at Turkey’s Istanbul airport before arriving in Lebanon.

According to VICE News, Lebanon’s feuding militias are still using drugs as a source of income. Under international pressure, the Lebanese government is cracking down on smaller cannabis farmers, while drug lords continue to act with impunity.

WATCH more on hash farms in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley:

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Australian father guilty of marrying 12-year-old daughter to Lebanese man

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — An Australian man was found guilty on Wednesday for marrying off his 12-year-old daughter to a 26-year-old Lebanese man, according to Australian media reports.

The father, who cannot be named to protect his daughter’s identity, was found guilty of procuring a child under the age of 14 for unlawful sexual activity and encouraging the couple to have intercourse.

Media reports say the man wanted to “save” the girl from what he considered the “sin” of having sex outside marriage. Sydney’s Downing Center District Court heard that he believed girls should be married when they hit puberty.

The father held an Islamic marriage ceremony at his home in southeastern Australia in January 2014, but Australian law refused to recognize the marriage. The sheikh who approved the marriage has not been charged.

Judge Deborah Sweeney said the father gave permission for his 12-year-old daughter to have sex with the 26-year-old man at a local hotel. Sweeney adds they had sex twice more at the father’s home the following weekend.

The 12-year-old fell pregnant but miscarried, according to court documents.The Lebanese man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for marrying and impregnating the girl. He will be eligible for parole in August 2021, but will likely be deported, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The father, who has a history of battling drugs, alcohol, and gambling, was released on bail and will be sentenced next month.

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Syrian man arrested in Metn for prostituting 14-year-old wife

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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces arrested a Syrian man and his 14-year-old wife over a prostitution ring in the Metn region of Lebanon on Monday.

Police say they received a tip about a man who prostituted his teenage wife and several other women in Jounieh and Tabarja.

Investigations into the case led to the arrest of a 36-year-old Syrian man, a 14-year-old Syrian girl, and two Iraqi sisters aged 19 and 31.

The group was arrested on Nov. 29, according to the Internal Security Forces.

The man reportedly confessed to prostituting his wife and the two Iraqi women. The Iraqis also confessed to prostitution even “without an agent,” according to a statement.

This most recent arrest comes one month after security forces arrested one Lebanese man and five Syrians accused of forming a prostitution ring and using it for human trafficking.

Watch France 24’s report on prostitution in Lebanon:

RELATED: Prostitution ring busted by security officials in Lebanon. Read more

RELATED: Lebanon police bust Kaslik prostitution ring. Read more.

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Lebanese-Canadian professor charged with 1st-degree murder in France

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(OTTAWA, ON) — Lebanese-Canadian university professor Hassan Diab was charged with first-degree murder and other offenses in France on Saturday after being extradited in connection with a decades-old terrorism case, and his lawyer says he is ready to prove in court there is no real evidence against him.

On Thursday, Canada’s highest court refused to hear Diab’s final plea to halt his extradition to France, ensuring he will face trial for the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue.

The decision brings an end to 60-year-old Diab’s six-year legal battle to avoid what he said would be an unfair prosecution in France for a crime he insists he did not commit.

The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in a statement, saying his appeal of a lower court ruling and the government’s extradition order was “dismissed without costs.”

Diab, who was taken into custody Wednesday pending the announcement, could now be flown to Paris at any time in the next 45 days. There he will be questioned by an investigating judge before criminal proceedings can begin.

If convicted, Diab could face life in prison.

The 1980 bombing on the Copernic Street was the first fatal attack against the French Jewish community since the Nazi occupation in World War II.

Explosives packed in the saddlebags of a parked motorcycle were detonated as worshippers were starting to exit the synagogue.

The blast killed three Frenchmen and a young Israeli woman. Forty were injured.

Guillaume Denoix de Saint-Marc, speaking for the victims’ families, expressed “relief” that the case may now finally go to trial after 34 years.

Diab is a former sociology lecturer at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

He was born in Lebanon and studied sociology at the American University of Beirut. He received his PhD from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York and became a Canadian citizen in 1993. Sources say Diab moved to Ottawa in 2006.

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Prostitution ring busted by security officials in Lebanon

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese security forces arrested one Lebanese man five Syrians accused of forming a prostitution ring and using it for human trafficking, according to a security statement issued on Tuesday.

Police say an unidentified person was witnessed offering a girl for sale to several young men in the southern Lebanon city of Sidon.

Security sources say they issued an investigation and were able to identify the human trader a few days later. He was apprehended in Antelias, Lebanon.

The suspect, who’s name is only identified by initials A.A., admitted that he was working with a prostitution ring in Dier Koubel.

Police raided the prostitution ring hideout and arrested five Syrians, including the girl who was being sold, the statement said.

This arrest comes one month after Lebanese security officials arrested another prostitution ring led by Syrian and Lebanese partners in the Kaslik area of Kesrouan.

Six Syrian women were also arrested in that particular ring, including a 19-year-old. The women confessed to the charges and said they had also sold drugs to their clients.

To read more about last month’s prostitution arrests, click here.

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Lebanon police bust Kaslik prostitution ring

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese police busted a prostitution ring run by Syrian and Lebanese partners on Saturday in the Kaslik area of Kesrouan, after receiving a tip about the group, according to the Internal Security Forces.

In a statement, security officials said they raided the location in Kaslik and arrested a 39-year-old Syrian and a 34-year-old Lebanese, who were alleged to have ran the prostitution ring together.

Six Syrian women were also arrested on charges of prostitution, including a 19-year-old. The women confessed to the charges and said they had also sold drugs to their clients.

At the Syrian suspect’s apartment in Sarba, the Jounieh area of Lebanon, police found six grams of hashish.

The eight-strong ring was also charged with drug abuse and trafficking.

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