LEBANON THWARTS SMUGGLING OF 700,000 CAPTAGON PILLS TO SAUDI ARABIA

Sun 20 February 2022:

Lebanese security agencies thwarted the smuggling of 700,000 Captagon pills to Saudi Arabia, Anadolu Agency reported Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi disclosing on Friday.

Captagon is a type of amphetamine-style stimulant fenethylline manufactured for illegal recreational use, mostly in Lebanon and Syria.

Mawlawi posted on Twitter: “A new achievement for the intelligence department was recorded as 700,000 Captagon pills were seized before being shipped to Saudi Arabia.”

He also said that the security agencies intercepted three other attempts to smuggle Captagon to Saudi Arabia in one week.

Smuggling drugs to Saudi Arabia was one of the reasons that led to strained relations between Lebanon and the main Gulf state.

Last month, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Ahmad Nasser Al-Sabah proposed an initiative to rebuild confidence between Lebanon and the Gulf States.

The proposal included a term related to tightening measures against drug smuggling from Lebanon to the Gulf states.

In last year April Saudi Arabia announced an indefinite ban on Lebanese agricultural products after officials said they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 5.3 million Captagon pills hidden in a shipment of pomegranates at Jeddah port.

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Captagon is manufactured in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and is often exported to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

The Saudi authorities have since announced the seizure of several shipments containing millions of Captagon pills from Lebanon and Syria.

According to Foreign Policy, Captagon’s primary production hub is in Syria, with a notable concentration of manufacturing facilities in regime-held areas. Here, Hezbollah has come to play a supportive role in providing captagon producers with technical expertise, cover, and protection during the transit process from Syria to Lebanon. This has also offered Hezbollah an alternative revenue stream during difficult financial times. Hezbollah-controlled checkpoints have largely helped divert detection of captagon shipments by Lebanese law enforcement; when there is the occasional seizure, raid, or arrest by Lebanese security forces, it takes place outside areas under Hezbollah control.