Millions of tablets of highly addictive Captagon worth almost GBP 50 million hidden in cement bags and the walls of a lorry have been seized in Saudi Arabia.
Use of the drug has dramatically increased in the Middle East, where smuggling of the amphetamine-like narcotic is thought to be worth up to GBP 5 billion.
Much of that revenue is used to fund the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the militant group Hezbollah.
Known as the poor man’s cocaine, its foothold in the Middle East has also seen it growing in popularity in Europe, Africa and even Asia. The pills contain a complex mixture of chemicals that can cause serious mental problems and are highly addictive.
This week the growing problem of the drug was highlighted by Saudi Arabia’s Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority which revealed it had foiled two attempts to smuggle more than 2.4 million Captagon pills.
The pills were found hidden in consignments received at the Empty Quarter Port, where 1,213,378 Captagon pills were seized.
In the second attempt at the Jeddah Islamic Port where 1,215,353 pills hidden in a cement shipment were seized.
International Addiction Review journal statistics indicate the pills had a combined street value of between USD 24 million (GBP 20 million) and USD 60 million (GBP 49 million).
The seizure also allowed Customs officials from the General Directorate of Narcotics Control to arrest six people in the gang that tried to receive the drug.
The latest seizures are part of a massive increase in the amount of tablets flooding into the country – following on from two million Captagon tablets hidden inside a shipment of wooden planks for kitchens, in the Riyadh region on 30th November.
The official spokesman for the General Directorate for Drug Control, Major Muhammad al-Nujaidi, confirmed that on that occasion another four people were arrested, three Syrians and a Pakistani.
In Saudi Arabia, drug smuggling is punishable with death, although, in recent years, there have not been any executions carried out.
Captagon was first made legal in 1961 as an alternative to amphetamine and methamphetamine to treat narcolepsy, fatigue and other conditions.
It also allowed soldiers to stay awake for longer periods of time and encouraged bravery but was banned in the 80s as it was found to have no acceptable medical use.
The newly illegally manufactured version also contains several other highly addictive stimulants to create a “new age” version that causes irreversible damage to the brain.
This has led it to being branded as “The Amphetamine Fuelling Syria’s War” or “The Jihadists’ Drug”.
