UN investigator interrogates former official in the Lebanese army

The Lebanese security forces in Beirut broke into the house of the former director of the "monitoring (listening) department" in the Lebanese army and took him for interrogation by the UN committee for investigation in the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

One security official requesting to remain anonymous said that Col. Ghassan al-Tufeili, the official for the listening unit in the military intelligence, was taken to the headquarters of the investigation team in Monteverdi hotel in Beirut and was interrogated for five hours before he was released. It was not known if al-Tufeili was facing any likely accusations.

Al-Tufeili who was removed from his post in May this year, and was detained at the instructions of the chairman of the UN investigation committee headed by Detlev Mehlis.

Four Lebanese security officials were arrested in August after they were accused by the UN committee in the murder of Hariri.

This came at a time when Damascus accused the Mehlis investigation team of not collaborating with it, after the UN team rejected to sign a cooperation protocol concerning the investigations.