Lebanese authorities on Monday charged a Saudi prince and nine others with stimulant drug trafficking, a week after they were caught in a record drug bust, a judicial source told AFP.
Saudi prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four others were detained by airport security on October 26 after nearly two tons of Captagon capsules, a stimulant drug, and cocaine were found waiting to be loaded onto their private plane at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
A public prosecutor “has charged 10 people, including five arrested individuals — a Saudi prince and Saudi nationals… with smuggling and selling the drug Captagon,” the judicial source said.
Five individuals still at large were included in the charges, including three Lebanese and two Saudi nationals, the source added.
Captagon is the brand name for the amphetamine phenethylline, a synthetic stimulant drug.
The banned stimulant drug is consumed mainly in the Middle East and has reportedly been widely used by fighters in Syria.
According to the judicial source, the case has been transferred to an investigative judge.
The drug bust was “the largest one that has been foiled through the Beirut international airport,” a security source told AFP last week on condition of anonymity.
The fact the bust happened in Lebanon, Hezbollah may have been behind the intelligence to intercept the plane load of Captagon. Drugged Syrian fighters are killing Hezbollah fighters by the truckloads.
AFP contributed to this article.
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