JEDDAH: Narcotics control squads have thwarted a bid to distribute 835,900 Captagon pills.
The drugs were hidden inside glue bags allocated for tile construction, and were seized in a warehouse in the capital Riyadh.
A Syrian expat who received the drugs shipment was arrested.
Col. Abdulaziz bin Mohammad bin Kadsah, spokesman for the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC), said the directorate acquired information that a cell in Saudi Arabia had been coordinating with outside assistants to smuggle large quantities of drugs into the Kingdom.
After further search efforts, the GDNC confirmed that the members of the cell were able to smuggle a quantity of narcotics, which reached Riyadh. The field security squad formed to follow up and investigate the issue managed to find the drugs stored in the warehouse.
“When the security authorities raided the warehouse they found the pills hidden professionally within the bags of tile glue, about 835,900 Captagon pills. Further efforts are still continuing to find the cell’s agents outside the Kingdom,” said the GDNC spokesman.
The GDNC said it will continue its task and mission to protect the children of the Kingdom from the scourge of drugs.
It is not the first operation by GDNC to foil drugs smuggling in recent months. In October, the directorate foiled the smuggling of 2,105,000 Captagon pills hidden inside concrete blocks in the Al-Aflaj region. Authorities arrested six people in Riyadh, Madinah and Dammam including one the Saudi citizen, three Syrians, one Pakistani and one Indian. The authorities found in their possession a sum of SR271,000, $40,000 and 2kg of jewelry.