The five Saudi citizens were held in the airport to be questioned by Lebanon’s customs authority

A Saudi prince and has been detained in Lebanon in the largest drug bust in the history of Beirut airport, according to a security source. 

Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four others were detained by airport security while allegedly “attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine,” Al Jazeera reported.

“The smuggling operation is the largest one that has been foiled through the Beirut International Airport,” the security source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity. 

Captagon is the brand name for the amphetamine phenethylline, a synthetic stimulant.

Lebanon and war-torn Syria are manufacturing centers for the substance, which has become a gateway for the drug to the Middle East and particularly the Gulf.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime said in a 2014 report that the amphetamine market is on the rise in the Middle East, with seizures primarily in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria accounting for more than 55 percent of amphetamines recovered worldwide.

The security source said the drugs were packed into cases that were waiting to be loaded onto a private plane bound for Saudi Arabia.

Lebanon’s state news agency said the private plane was heading to Riyadh and was carrying 40 suitcases full of Captagon.

The five Saudi citizens were held in the airport and to be questioned by Lebanon’s customs authority, the source added.

In April 2014, security forces foiled an attempt to smuggle 15 million capsules of Captagon hidden in shipping containers full of corn from Beirut’s port.

-TAAN, Al Jazeera