Saudi Arabia’s Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority on Thursday foiled an attempt to smuggle 461,164 Captagon pills through Al-Haditha port.
The drugs haul had an estimated street value of approximately between $4.6 million and $115m according to research published in the International Addiction Review Journal, which said users paid in the range of $10-$25 a pill.
According to authorities, the tablets were found stashed inside shipments marked as car parts that were delivered to the kingdom on a truck.
The four consignees of the shipment were arrested and coordination has been made with General Directorate for Narcotics after the seizure operation at the port was completed.
Amphetamines are largely used by young men and teenaged boys across the Middle East, and the money raised through the sale of all narcotics are usually ploughed back into the drug trade although some find their way into organized crime and terrorism.
Captagon pills worth $115 million seized by Saudi authorities
Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Turkey-backed factions in Syria. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only props up the pariah regime of President Bashar al-Assad, but many of his enemies. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)