Report: Bassil bodyguard details how he handled explosives in Syria arms smuggling case
A bodyguard of Free Patriotic Movement chief Gebran Bassil is also a State Security member and the brother of a detainee in the case of the Hezbollah-linked ring that allegedly planned attacks against the forces of Syria's new government, MTV reported on Friday.
In his confessions, the bodyguard revealed extensive details about how he handled the explosives that were hidden in a grove in Akkar, the TV network said.
“The detainee confessed that after the network was exposed and the first arrests began, he rushed to move the bombs and explosives that had been hidden inside the 11 rooms in Akkar and in houses there. He disposed of them by throwing them directly into the waters of the Nahr al-Kabir River on the Lebanese-Syrian border, in an attempt to conceal the criminal evidence and facilitate the escape of those involved before the security forces raided and arrested him,” MTV added.
Meanwhile, the five detainees -- two Lebanese and three Syrians explained “the full extent of Hezbollah's involvement in supporting and managing this network,” the TV network said, adding that “the confessions recorded in the investigation reports confirmed that Hezbollah operatives provided complete financial and logistical support to the individuals arriving from the Syrian coast, with the aim of subjecting them to training courses on detonating explosives and preparing drones at a special camp in the Bekaa Valley.”
According to the detainees' reported confessions, the support provided took the following forms:
“Hezbollah members allocated monthly salaries and financial aid to each trainee, ranging from $300 to $500. They also provided them with shelter in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Sources also told MTV that an association affiliated with Hezbollah handled the direct financial and logistical needs of these groups.”
Investigations also revealed that communication between Hezbollah members and the network was conducted via a phone network using foreign numbers originating from the southern suburbs.
This prompted the judiciary to expand the investigation to identify the Hezbollah members facilitating the network's operations, MTV said.
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