Two Pakistanis, six Syrians held in Saudi Arabia for smuggling 47 mln drug pills
Sep 01, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], September 1 : Saudi Arabia security forces arrested two Pakistani citizens and six Syrians for smuggling around 47 million amphetamine pills in a shipment of flour, media reports said.
Amphetamine is an addictive and mood-altering drug which is often used illegally as a stimulant. According to a Pakistani local media outlet, Dawn citing Saudi Press Agency, the two Pakistanis were among eight people arrested by Saudi authorities in a raid on a warehouse resulting.
The security forces tracked the shipment as it arrived at the Riyadh Dry Port and was moved to a warehouse. After getting the information about the suspicious shipment with a record amount of amphetamine pills, the authorities raided the warehouse and detained six Syrian citizens and two Pakistani nationals.
Saudi General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) did not name the amphetamine, but it is worth noting that Saudi Arabia is the largest market for tablets bearing the logo of Captagon -- typically a mix of amphetamine, caffeine and various fillers.
Captagon is reportedly one of the most popular drugs among affluent youths in the Gulf, according to the report. The Saudi officials recovered 46,916,480 amphetamine pills.
The Official Spokesperson of the GDNC, Major Mohammed Al-Nujaidi noted, "this is the biggest operation of its kind to smuggle this amount of narcotics into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in one operation," reported Daily Pakistan.
Following the incident, Saudi spokesperson Al-Nujaidi said that the security forces are going to respond to the perpetuated situation with determination and assured prompt action. In addition to this, he resolved to follow up on the activities of criminal networks that target the security of Saudi Arabia and its citizens with drugs.
Stressing to combat and foil such attempts the spokesperson further arrested all people involved to receive the deterrent penalties, as per the media portal.
