Lebanon arrests TikTok food influencer in drug case

Lebanon arrested Georges Dib, a TikTok food influencer known as “Doctor Food”, at his home in the northern governorate of Akkar on Sunday, a judicial source told AFP.

The source said Dib, who has more than eight million followers and owns a confectionery business, had been sentenced to life in absentia for drug trafficking. The source said he would be taken to a detention centre in Mount Lebanon and would face a new trial on further drug trafficking charges.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two years ago that the judiciary had issued a warrant for Dib, accusing him of manufacturing narcotics, trafficking them and smuggling them abroad. NNA reported at the time that authorities had seized confectionery and other food products at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport that contained narcotics and were manufactured in factories owned by Dib. The products were to be shipped to a Gulf country, NNA reported.

Dib continued to post on TikTok despite the warrant and conviction. Last month, after news of his conviction became public, he denied the accusations in a video and urged followers not to listen to what was being said about him.