Lebanon’s most wanted drug trafficker taken into custody, authorities say

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s most wanted drug trafficker was arrested Thursday after years on the run, authorities said.

Noah Zeiter was taken into custody during a raid near the eastern city of Baalbeck, according to a high-ranking military official. Zeiter eventually turned himself in to military intelligence after a standoff. The official spoke on condition on anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

The Lebanese army didn’t disclose Zeiter’s name, but referred to the captive by his initials.

Lebanon’s army has been cracking down on the country’s illicit drugs network, which often transported narcotics through its porous borders with Syria into Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The wealthy monarchies have accused the powerful Hezbollah group of playing a major role in the trade of the highly addictive amphetamine known as Captagon.

The military has frequently raided factories largely located in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian border in a bid to improve ties with Riyadh, which suspended imports from the cash-strapped country in 2021 after finding Captagon hidden in shipments coming into the kingdom.

Zeiter was sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom in 2023 for his alleged involvement in the manufacturing and smuggling of Captagon alongside relatives and close associates of the Assad dynasty in Syria.

For years, Zeiter has been on the run from Lebanese authorities. Prior to the conflict in Syria in 2011, he was known for producing and smuggling large amounts of cannabis and made occasional media appearances. Zeiter is close with Hezbollah and Syria’s Fourth Division under the now-ousted Assad government.

Under Syria’s new rulers, the government has been destroying the remnants of Captagon factories in the country that flourished during the conflict. Security officials there say they continue to bust smuggling attempts along the border with Lebanon.

Lebanon and Syria have slowly been trying to improve ties following Assad’s downfall in a lightning insurgency in December 2024, and hope to resolve matters along the porous border.