Pubdate: Sun, 13 Apr 2014
Source: Saudi Gazette (Saudi Arabia)
Copyright: 2014 Saudi Gazette
Contact:  http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5451

DRUGS WORTH $267M SEIZED; 6 HELD

RIYADH - Saudi Arabian police have arrested six people and seized
illegal drugs worth SR1 billion ($267 million) that were being
smuggled into the country from neighboring Bahrain, the Interior
Ministry said on Sunday.

Spokesman Major General Mansour Turki said five Saudi citizens and one
Bahraini had been detained in the operation after police uncovered
22.6 million amphetamine pills hidden inside coils of barbed wire and
rolls of plastic.

An investigation into the seizure of the drugs turned up a connection
to an international drug smuggling ring led by a Syrian national,
Turki told the Saudi Press Agency.

The Customs Department officers in Al-Haditha checkpoint also foiled
two attempts to smuggle narcotic tablets reaching 1.025 million.

In the first attempt 446,000 Captagon tablets were
seized.

They were hidden in the spare tire of one of the buses coming to the
Kingdom.

In the second attempt, 579,350 Captagon narcotic pills were seized.
They were concealed in paint rolls, Director General of Al-Haditha
Customs Ibrahim Al-Enizi said.

In 2010 Saudi Arabia received around 7 tons of Captagon tablets, one
of the most popular forms of amphetamine in the Middle East,
representing around a third of total world supply, according to the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Production of Captagon in Syria has soared over the past two years as
a result of the breakdown in order caused by the country's civil war.
Agencies
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D