BEIRUT: Former Cabinet Minister
Michel Samaha, who admitted to his role in a plot to carry out attacks in
Lebanon, is captured on video saying that such attacks are desired by Syrian
President Bashar Assad, according to security sources.
“Bashar wants this,” security
sources quoted Samaha as saying in the video shot some two weeks before his arrest
by a Lebanese policeman monitoring the two-time Information Minister.
Security sources told The Daily Star
Friday that the planting and the timing of the bombs were meant to coincide
with a planned visit to the northern region of Akkar by Maronite Patriarch
Beshara Rai.
Samaha was detained Thursday
morning. Security sources said that an investigation by the Internal Security
Forces’ Information Branch led to Samaha’s arrest.
Samaha admitted that he was involved
in the plot to carry out the attacks and that he had personally transferred a
number of explosives from Syria to Lebanon, said the sources.
The sources added that “highly
effective” bombs ready to explode by remote control were found in various areas
of Lebanon.
Security sources told The Daily Star
Friday that after police collected evidence for the case and just before Zero
Hour for the bombs to go off, Acting State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud gave orders
to arrest Samaha.
They also said Samaha was caught on
camera as saying that Syrian Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk had handed him the bombs in
addition to cash to be distributed among the perpetrators in Lebanon.
The ISF Information Branch seized $170,000 from
Samaha’s residence, added the sources.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-10/184125-samaha-confesses-to-lebanon-bomb-plots-says-assad-wants-this.ashx#axzz238APN8rW
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