Arabic version: توقيف جورج ديب في لبنان على خلفية مزاعم بشأن شبكة إجرامية

According to ABC News, fugitive George Dib has been arrested in Lebanon over allegations he ran a global organised crime syndicate. The Australian Federal Police said Dib is suspected of brokering and organising multiple drug shipments to Australia for a range of criminal syndicates during the past 11 years.

Dib first came to law enforcement attention in 2013 before disappearing. He has never been convicted of a crime, but was suspected of being part of the “Aussie Cartel”, which was dismantled in Türkiye in 2023. His father is not accused of wrongdoing.

An intelligence file from the NSW Crime Commission obtained by ABC News alleges Dib was a main player in another offshore drug conglomerate. The report names him alongside Lebanese fugitives Bilal Haouchar and Rafat Alameddine, among other alleged Sydney criminals. Dib, Alameddine and Haouchar are accused of sending messages known as “AUS weekly market updates” intended to set Sydney’s cocaine distribution price at $225,000 per kilogram.

Lebanese media has referred to Dib by the nickname “Junior”. He was detained last week in a night-time raid by the Information Branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Force. About a dozen people with alleged links to Sydney’s organised crime scene were also in custody, sources told ABC News.

The AFP provided intelligence to Lebanese authorities through Operation Gain, the unit credited with helping dismantle the Aussie Cartel and disrupting several wanted fugitives. Dib now faces the possibility of decades in a Middle Eastern jail over the allegations.