Damascus, (SANA) – Syrian authorities confiscated around 2 million illegal drug pills that were smuggled into Syria across the Lebanese borders and were set to be smuggled to other Arab countries.

The constant vigilance of the authorities resulted in confiscating a truck containing 1.2 million pills of illegal drugs valued at more than SYP 90 million (around USD 2 million) that were produced in Lebanon and were destined to Arab Gulf countries.

The drug shipment consisted of 6,000 small bags, each containing 200 pills of an illegal substance known as "al-Jazeera".

The five people responsible for the operation were arrested; the two responsible for financing the operation, the one responsible for handling the drugs, the one who designed a compartment in the truck to hide the shipment, and the truck driver.

The pills were smuggled from Lebanon into Syria and were intercepted by the authorities when they were being transported from Lattakia to Damascus. An accomplice in Jordan had arranged for the shipment to be smuggled to Saudi Arabia.

The authorities also stopped another operation involving smuggling drugs via electric generators.

Smugglers transported 17 electric generators from Damascus to Aleppo in northern Syria with the intent of using them to smuggle 750.000 Captagon (fenethylline) pills inside them, but the authorities managed to stop them while they were still preparing their operation.

The value of the shipment, which came from Lebanon and was bound for Arab Gulf states, is estimated at SYP 60 millions (USD 1.2 million).

It should be noted that Syria is classified by international anti-narcotics establishments as a "transit" country for drugs. Nevertheless, Syria is exerting all its efforts and resources to prevent drugs from even entering or crossing the country.

M. Nassr / H. Sabbagh