Reports: Bilal Deqmaq Deported from Turkey, Arrested at Beirut Airport
General Security officers arrested on Wednesday wanted Salafist Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq at Rafik Hariri International Airport after his deportation from Turkey, reports said.
According to the National News Agency, Deqmaq, who is based in the northern city of Tripoli, was briefly detained on November 15 by Turkish authorities on charges of smuggling cash.
The military prosecutor issued an arrest warrant against Deqmaq after the Lebanese army raided an arms cache at his residence in late October.
Another wanted Salafist cleric, Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, said at the time that the weapons belonged to him and demanded their return.
The Lebanese soldiers have arrested scores of militants and seized arms caches in Tripoli after several days of battles in October in and around the coastal city.
The fighters have pledged their allegiance to Syria-based militants whose threat rose after they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August and took Lebanese soldiers and policemen captive.
The militants from the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front have executed four of them.
Among their demands are the release of Islamists from Roumieh prison.
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