Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 1.6m Captagon pills through port

Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 1.6m Captagon pills through port
Authorities at Jeddah Islamic Port have thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1.6 million Captagon pills into the Kingdom. (File/SPA)
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Updated 14 August 2021
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Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 1.6m Captagon pills through port

Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 1.6m Captagon pills through port
  • The floor of the truck had been hollowed out to hide the pills in
  • Two people who were due to receive the drugs were arrested

RIYADH: Saudi customs officers at Jeddah Islamic Port have foiled an attempt to smuggle 1.6 million Captagon pills into the country.
The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority said the drugs were hidden in the hollowed-out floor of a truck.
After making the seizure, authorities coordinated with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control in the arrest of two people believed to be the planned recipients of the tablets in the Kingdom.
The authority said anyone with information related to suspected smuggling operations or customs violations could call the Security Reports Center’s confidential line on 1910, and that financial rewards were available for valid tip offs.

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The authority said anyone with information related to suspected smuggling operations or customs violations could call the Security Reports Center’s confidential line on 1910, and that financial rewards were available for valid tip offs.

The latest seizure comes just one week after officials at Jeddah Islamic Port thwarted a bid to smuggle more than 8.7 million Captagon pills hidden in cocoa beans.
In July, coastal patrols in Ras Tanura in the Eastern Province foiled an operation to sneak nearly 500,000 amphetamine pills into the Kingdom, while naval patrols in Khafji, also in the Eastern Province, stopped more than 240 kilograms of hashish and 419,000 amphetamine pills from getting through. And in June, more than 4.5 million pills were found hidden in a consignment of oranges at Jeddah Islamic Port, and a further 14 million tablets were uncovered among a shipment of metal sheets arriving from Lebanon.