The Lebanese Army announced in a statement on Sunday the arrest of 54 people trying to illegally flee the country.
They were arrested on the Island of Balan, off the coast of Tripoli in the north of Lebanon.
25 men, 9 women, and 20 kids, as specified by the statement, were waiting for boats that would take them to Cyprus.
The Army also rescued 9 people, all of them of Syrian nationality, in a sinking boat heading to the island.
Illegal human smuggling has been increasing in Lebanon as a consequence of the disastrous economic crisis.
The Mondial Bank described the Lebanese economic crisis as “one of the third-worst crises in the world since the middle of the 19th century.”
The Lebanese currency lost 85% of its value in under 2 years and almost two-thirds of the population live now under the poverty line.
This is felt particularly strong in Lebanon’s northern capital Tripoli, where 75% to 85% of the population lives under the poverty line.
According to UNRWA, more than 21 trips were organized to flee the country between mid-July and September 1st of this year.
