According to Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Beirut, over 700 million narcotic pills entered the country via Lebanon in the past eight years.
In April last year, the kingdom suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon after seizing millions of amphetamine pills in fruit shipments.
Amphetamines such as Captagon, which are causing havoc in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, are mainly produced in Syria and Lebanon, and are smuggled into the Gulf region.
Over 700 million narcotic pills and hundreds of kilograms of hashish have been seized in Lebanon since 2015,” Saudi ambassador Waleed Bukhari told reporters.
Following a meeting with Lebanon's interior minister, Bukhari said his country had seen improvements in counter-drug smuggling operations.
A report by the New Lines Institute said in April that captagon trade in the Middle East reached $5 billion in 2021, posing a growing health and security risk.
