Saudi Arabia seizes 5 million Captagon pills in latest bust

Salim A. Essaid

May 1, 2023

Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Turkey-backed factions in Syria. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only — Seized drugs including Captagon are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022. — AFP via Getty Images

DUBAI — Saudi authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 5 million amphetamine tablets into the country in a shipment of stones through a Jeddah seaport Monday.

The Saudi Ministry of Interior’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) made the announcement, the latest in a series of nearly weekly drug busts in the kingdom for transporting, selling and promoting drug use.

What happened: Saudi Arabia’s GDNC and customs authority found 5,280,000 pills of fenethyllin, an amphetamine marketed under the brand name Captagon, concealed within a shipment of stones and building supplies, according to a Monday tweet from both government agencies.

Six people were arrested while receiving the shipment in Riyadh and Jeddah. They included one citizen each from Syria, Sudan and Saudi Arabia along with three others whose nationalities were not identified.