The Illegal Manakish: How Is Lebanon's Most Famous Breakfast Food Being Used to Break Laws?

Despite legalizing farming cannabis for medical use last year, Lebanese police have announced arresting a number of individuals connected to a drug ring, one that has been using the Lebanese manakish to smuggle pot into Europe and neighboring Arab countries.

Translation: "A special operation for The Central Directorate for Drug Control and the special group has successfully dismantled an organized network of drug smugglers inside manakish bakeries, one that has been sending drugs to several countries. We have successfully arrested the mastermind and seized large amounts of drugs."

According to the police, the ring has been covering its activity in a bakery that has been thought to be producing manakish, the famous pastry made across the Levant and consumed during breakfast in the region.

The news of the innovative smuggling technique has gone viral online as people expressed their astonishment at how drug dealers have come to use the most traditional Lebanese foods to fulfill their goals.

Despite the legal challenges, Lebanon has been one of the largest producers of cannabis in the Middle East, which has urged the parliament to pass a new law last July, legalizing its farming only for medical use.