A security source reports that a Saudi prince along with four others have been detained in Lebanon in what marks the largest drug seizure in the history of the Beirut International Airport.
Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz was among the five detained by airport security while allegedly "attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine," the security source said, according to Al Jazeera.
"The smuggling operation is the largest one that has been foiled through the Beirut International Airport," the source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
Captagon is the brand name for the amphetamine phenethylline, a psychostimulant whose manufacture thrives in Lebanon and Syria and sees widespread use among fighters throughout the Middle East, according to RT.
A 2014 report published by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime stated that the amphetamine market is on the rise in the Middle East, with seizures mostly in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria accounting for more than 55 percent of amphetamines recovered worldwide.
The security source said the drugs had been packed into cases that were waiting to be loaded onto a private plane that was headed to Saudi Arabia, according to Raw Story.
Lebanon's state news agency said the private plane was to head to Riyadh and was carrying 40 suitcases packed with Captagon.
Latest reports indicate that the five Saudi citizens still remain in the airport being interrogated by Lebanon's customs authority, the source added.
