BEIRUT, June 27, (AFP): Lebanon has arrested a technician working for a mobile telephone network who is suspected of spying for Israel, the country’s telecommunications minister said on Sunday.
“Last Thursday, a technician who works for the Alfa company was arrested by the security services,” the minister, Charbel Nahhas, told AFP.
“An investigation has been opened into possible collaboration (between the person) and Israel,” Nahhas said.
The minister denied the suspect was a key employee at the mobile telephone network operator, as had been reported in Lebanese media on Sunday.
Lebanon has arrested more than 70 people since launching a major crackdown in April 2009 against suspected Israeli spy networks, including security force members with equipment for monitoring communications.
Israel has not commented on the arrests.
Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war, and convicted spies face life in prison with hard labour or the death penalty if found guilty of contributing to Lebanese loss of life.
Israeli soldiers detained on Sunday a Lebanese shepherd near the Shebaa Farms, a small enclave occupied by the Jewish state but claimed by Beirut, officials said.
“One Lebanese civilian was apprehended by the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) in the general area of Shebaa and is currently in IDF custody,” Neeraj Singh, spokesman for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon, told AFP.
“UNIFIL force commander is in contact with the parties with a view to resolving the situation.”
The Lebanese army and security services identified the arrested person as 37-year-old shepherd Imad Hassan Atwi.
An official with the security services said the shepherd was abducted in an area where there is no barbed wire separating Shebaa Farms from the Lebanese town of Shebaa.
But UNIFIL and the army did not wish to specify whether the Israeli troops had carried out an incursion into Lebanon, adding an investigation was underway.