BEIRUT - Israel arrested a Lebanese man during a drug seizure on Saturday after he entered its territory, the United Nations force in south Lebanon said on Tuesday.

"Israel informed us on Saturday of the arrests of three Israelis and a Lebanese citizen in an attempted smuggling near Birnait" on Israel's northern border, UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane told reporters.

She said residents of the Lebanese border town of Rmeish had informed Lebanon's army of the disappearance of one of the village's residents, whose identity has not been disclosed. A UNIFIL investigation revealed the Lebanese man had violated the Blue Line, the frontier drawn by the United Nations after Israel ended its occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.

"At the time of his arrest, he was within Israeli territory," Bouziane said. On Saturday, the Israeli army announced the seizure of 55 kilograms (120 pounds) of heroin and 10 kilos of hashish, along with 650,000 dollars "from Lebanon" during an army and police operation on the northern border.

An Israeli police spokesman, Eran Shaked, said three Bedouins in the Ber Sheva region had been arrested, without mentioning a Lebanese. According to Israel, the incident was the second foiled drug trafficking attempt in a month in the region.