Lebanese Prosecutor: Military Cargo for Iraq Dispatched by Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

Lebanese newspaper “The Daily Star” reported with a reference to the Lebanese state prosecutor Adnan Adum that the military cargo, captured in the airport of Beirut en route to Iraq, arrived from Croatia, rather than Belarus. However, the prosecutor personally told Radio Svaboda that he never gave such commentaries, pinpointing that the sender was Belarus, not Croatia.

Lebanese newspaper “The Daily Star” reported that the contraband cargo to Iraq was seized on January 12 evening. According to the Lebanese customs, two containers were filled with 240 radio systems, 600 head-sets and uniforms of the tank crew members. The Lebanese Foreign Ministry urgently forwarded an inquiry to Interpol in order to find out the origin of the cargo. “The Daily Star” quotes Lebanese state prosecutor Adnan Adum as saying that the cargo came from Croatia.
However, the official himself called this data false:
- I only said that we know the people, who delivered the cargo, but we never mentioned the country of origin. I have no information in this regard.
Half an hour later the prosecutor received additional information from the military court of Lebanon:
- Yes, the cargo comes from Belarus.
The news agency Reuters was the first to voice information that the commodity arrived from Belarus. Reuters correspondent in Beirut Joseph Logan claims that he received these data from certain sources in the Lebanese special services.
“The Daily Star” writes that the cargo was supposed to reach Iraq as a food consignment, for Lebanon has been recently increasing its food export to Iraq. The newspaper also reports that both Lebanese nationals were set free upon $80thsd bail paid for each of them.