Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Photo: Ammar Shaker via Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – Saudi Arabia busted two separate smuggling attempts, seizing 2.4 million captagon pills, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Friday.

The narcotic is an amphetamine-style stimulant fenethylline often produced in the collapsed economies of Syria and Lebanon.

Authorities intercepted the contraband hidden in cargo – the first in glove boxes and the second as part of a shipment of oranges. The smuggled goods were seized in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Al Arabiya reported.

Three individuals were arrested as part of the operation, and port authorities are continuing to “tighten customs control” SPA reported.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the region are concentrating on the captagon trade which is expanding, fueled by large ungoverned spaces within Syria and Lebanon.

Last year, Saudi officials banned imports of fruit and vegetables from Lebanon as a result, they said, of the discovery of a plot to smuggle five million pills into the kingdom, Al Arabiya reported.

AFP estimates that as many as 25 million pills were seized across the region since the start of 2022.

Saudi’s Interior Ministry said that narcotics smugglers may face the death penalty, and that users could receive fines, lashes, jail time and, for repeat offenders, execution.

The narcotic is known in the Middle East for its connection to jihadist fighters as it is often used by combatants aiming to fend off tiredness.