DUBAI: Lebanese authorities have thwarted an attempt to smuggle 100,000 amphetamine pills from the country to Saudi Arabia, two days after the Kingdom seized a shipment of 14.4 million pills dispatched from the small Mediterranean country.
In a statement, Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces said the Captagon pills were hidden in a batch of sterilization equipment set to be shipped to Saudi Arabia, adding that three people who admitted to being part of the operation were arrested.
This is the latest in a series of drug smuggling operations from Lebanon, which has found itself in hot water after its relations with Saudi Arabia soured.
Late Saturday, the state news agency SPA said the 14.4 million were hidden in a shipment of iron plates and seized by authorities in Jeddah.
Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fehmi said the pills originated from Latakia in Syria and shipped to Saudi Arabia via Beirut with a forged Greek certificate of origin.
Two months ago, Saudi Arabia banned imports of all Lebanese agricultural produce, citing an increase in drug smuggling after millions of pills were found hidden in 80,000 hollowed out pomegranates.
