Syria foils attempt to smuggle money to Lebanon

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Syrian customs agents have foiled an attempt to smuggle money in a diplomatic car to neighboring Lebanon, a government newspaper reported Sunday. Al-Thawra daily said the agents seized the money, estimated at around 15 million Syrian pounds (US$294,000 ; euro200,000), during a routine car inspection at the Jdeidet Yabous crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border. The cash was found inside a Mercedes car with diplomatic license places belonging to one of the foreign embassies in Syria, it said, adding that the money was seized in the presence of a Syrian Foreign Ministry official and an official from the concerned embassy. The paper did not name the embassy or say when the money was seized.