A group responsible for attempting to smuggle weapons and ammunitions by boat from the Northern shore was arrested, according to a statement issued by the army Sunday. According to security sources, the four suspects detained belonged to the Tawheed al-Islami (Islamic Unification), a Sunni Muslim fundamentalist faction. Tripoli MP Mosbah Ahdab told The Daily Star "the discovery of weapons in the North proves what we've been hearing about arms circulating in Lebanon." Ahdab said the pressing issue was to identify and stop the groups linked to arms smuggling, but added he did not have any information linking the Tawheed to the smuggling.Earlier Saturday, an army statement said a boat departing from a point on the Northern coast close to the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared on Friday night threw part of its cargo in the sea after a marine army unit chased it. The statement added the persons on the boat were able to escape after returning to Tripoli's coast near the port. The material caught on the boat and in the sea included "explosives of various sizes, electric detonators, RPG bombs and hand grenades."
The security sources indicated the Lebanese security forces will be cracking down in the next few days on depots in Tripoli where weapons owned by pro-Syrian groups are believed to be hidden. The security forces fear these weapons will be used "to destabilize the country in other Lebanese areas," sources said. "It is probable that armed groups are transporting weapons by sea from the North to other areas in Lebanon to evade the army, which is extensively deployed over the Lebanese territories these days," Ahmad Ayoubi director of the Media Center for Studies in Tripoli told The Daily Star. Ayoubi said there were many security gaps along the Northern coast, especially facing beach resorts owned by pro-Syrian figures, adding that these spots were not monitored by the security forces.
He further said the old networks of Syrian intelligence were still active in the North. "So many Syrians enter Lebanon to work without permits, making it difficult to spot informants hidden among them," he said. On the possible source of smuggled weapons, he said arms could be directly smuggled from Syria with the borders still not completely controlled or be provided by pro-Syrian groups such as the Baath party representatives. A third possibility is these weapons are supplied by Palestinian refugee camps. Al-Hayat regional daily quoted Lebanese security sources on Sunday saying "the Palestinian refugee camps of Beddawi and Nahr al-Bared were turning into security centers which guarantee weapons for use in the Lebanese territories."