Saudi prince held after seizure of two tonnes of amphetamines at airport

[LiberalArkie]

A Lebanese official says Beirut airport authorities have foiled one of the country’s largest drug smuggling attempts, seizing two tonnes of the amphetamine fenethylline before they were loaded on to the private plane of a Saudi prince.

The official said the prince and four others had been detained on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give official statements.

The manufacture of fenethylline pills thrives in Lebanon and war-torn Syria, which have become a gateway for the drug to the Middle East and particularly the Gulf.\



http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/26/saudi-prince-held-two-tonnes-amphetamines-airport-beirut

[DetlefK]

1. My prediction: diplomatic immunity.

[Quackers]

14. One of the Saudi Prince's was facing felony charges in LA. The prosecutor dropped it though...

I'll have to find that link.

[DFW]

17. Unless revoked?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Maybe for the prince. The four others are screwn. nt

[Generic Other]

2. They behead girls for being raped

so I would expect he would face a similar fate. Because we all know they apply the laws fairly.

Right?

[Ilsa]

3. Rec this post. ^^^ nt

[GummyBearz]

4. Those saudi princes sure know how to party

Someone should make a reality TV show on them... Saudi Princes Gone Wild

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. I work with someone who worked for the Saudi Royal Family in the 80's

He has some pretty crazy stories, the princesses were pretty out of control too.

[enid602]

5. ??????

Two TONS of pills? At the AIRPORT?

[NV Whino]

6. They're losing money on oil. They have to do something to afford those gold Bentlys.

[Codeine]

7. Beware the Tweaker/Industrial Complex. nt

[PufPuf23]

8. One wonders the destination of such a stash of speed?

Maybe the destination was for soldiers, terrorists, and abused labor?

Speed was notably used by the Nazi army.

Crystal meth is notorious for being highly addictive and ravaging countless communities. But few know that the drug can be traced back to Nazi Germany, where it first became popular as a way to keep pilots and soldiers alert in battle during World War II.

"Alertness aid" read the packaging, to be taken "to maintain wakefulness." But "only from time to time," it warned, followed by a large exclamation point.

The young soldier, though, needed more of the drug, much more. He was exhausted by the war, becoming "cold and apathetic, completely without interests," as he himself observed. In letters sent home by the army postal service, he asked his family to send more. On May 20, 1940, for example, he wrote: "Perhaps you could obtain some more Pervitin for my supplies?" He found just one pill was as effective for staying alert as liters of strong coffee. And -- even better -- when he took the drug, all his worries seemed to disappear. For a couple of hours, he felt happy.

snip

From that point on, the Wehrmacht, Germany's World War II army, distributed millions of the tablets to soldiers on the front, who soon dubbed the stimulant "Panzerschokolade" ("tank chocolate&quot . British newspapers reported that German soldiers were using a "miracle pill." But for many soldiers, the miracle became a nightmare.

more at:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/crystal-meth-origins-link-back-to-nazi-germany-and-world-war-ii-a-901755.html

[Codeine]

9. The Middle East is a hotbed of stimulant abuse.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/10579-is-saudi-arabia-losing-the-battle-to-combat-substance-abuse

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Captagon. That's what they're talking about. Middle East speed.

Yeah, I'd really like to run into some ISIS dudes after they've been tweaking for a few days. Not.

[bemildred]

15. Yep, I think you have it. nt

[PufPuf23]

18. Never even occurred to me that there was a speed problem in ME. Thanks.

From the article you linked:

"Last year, 30 per cent of global amphetamine seizures came from Saudi Arabia. The United Nations ranks the country as the biggest consumer of illegal stimulants in the region. While khat and hashish are common-place, the drug of choice is Captagon - a substance similar to speed. Police seize around fifty million tablets each year."

"In fact, while Saudi Arabia has an extraordinary usage per capita (accounting for thirty percent of the world's amphetamines but just 0.1 per cent of the population) it is not the only Middle Eastern country were amphetamine usage is rocketing. Each year, UAE police and coastguard units seize around four million capsules of Captagon. The actual amount being imported may be far higher. In 2009, an unusually successful raid on a single warehouse revealed a stash of four million. The massive haul of drugs had been smuggled in by sea, according to local newspaper The National, hidden in large roles of textiles. Captagon even has a folk nickname "Abu Hilalain," which means "Father of the Two Crescent Moons." The name mimics the designs imprinted on the tablets."

"Lebanon was once an industrial production hub for amphetamines, but its regional importance has ebbed away as the conflict in Syria has escalated. In 2012, the Lebanese government announced that around twelve million tablets had been confiscated. The following year, that number dropped by 90 per cent as illegal labs relocated en masse to war-torn Syria. Producers wanted to be closer to the market: illicit amphetamines are now widely used by rebel forces fighting Assad, to keep awake and treat stress."

"There is media speculation both from western outlets, such as Reuters, and local media organizations, that proceeds from the Captagon sales in Syria are now being used to fund weapons sales. This is difficult to prove, but last week a large shipment of small arms was stopped by a Jordanian border patrol, heading into the warzone. Alongside over two hundred weapons, ten thousand capsules of Captagon were confiscated, suggesting the two trades may be inter-linked in some way."

Also in the article is that SA is unique in that almost all the use is by males and that some drug smugglers are executed.

[Octafish]

10. The guy was gonna corner the market, was he?

What a prince.

[KamaAina]

13. Hey, at least it wasn't alcohol

[flamingdem]

16. Maybe they were for Isis soldiers

That's not a rich person's drug..

[ryan_cats]

19. Was

Was it the Bush family's connection? Is that why they left (or were allowed to leave) after 9/11?