Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 2 (AFP/APP):On a table covered in a green sheet, two Saudi officers pour out thousands of white amphetamine pills they have just seized from a neighbourhood in the kingdom’s Red Sea city of Jeddah.
An AFP crew accompanied the anti-narcotics agents on their raid Tuesday when police officers arrested three people carrying 28,000 Captagon tablets.
The operation — during which AFP was requested to turn off its cameras for security reasons — was part of the country’s efforts to crack down on dealers and smugglers of the amphetamine-type stimulant.
“The kingdom’s authorities have in the past six years foiled attempts to smuggle more than 600 million amphetamine pills” coming from Lebanon alone, Major Mohammed al-Nujaidi, spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control, told AFP.
He accused the “Hezbollah terrorist militia” of being “the main source smuggling them and manufacturing them.” The Lebanese Shiite militant group denies such accusations.
According to an AFP count, more than 25 million Captagon pills have been seized across the region since the start of the year.
“There have been different smuggling methods, including in fruits and vegetables, tyres, rocks, building materials and furniture,” al-Nujaidi said.
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