JEDDAH — The Saudi Customs at Jeddah Islamic Port foiled an attempt to smuggle 5.3 million pills of Captagon hidden in a consignment of pomegranates imported from Lebanon.

In a statement, Mohammed Bin Ali Al-Naim, Undersecretary of the Customs Authority for Security Affairs, said the shipment, upon its arrival at the port, the Saudi Customs managed to discover 5,383,400 Captagon pills hidden meticulously inside pomegranates.

Following the confiscation of the smuggled drugs and as a result of close coordination with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC), the recipients of this quantity were arrested in the Kingdom, Al-Naim added.

He affirmed that the Saudi Customs will continue their efforts to stop all attempts of the smugglers from bringing drugs into the Kingdom’s territories.

Earlier in the day, another attempt to smuggle nearly 2.5 million amphetamine tablets into the Kingdom was thwarted, said Capt. Mohammed Al-Nujaidi, the official spokesman of the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC), on Friday in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

The security follow-up on all drug-related criminal activities helped thwart the bid to smuggle as many as 2,466,563 amphetamine pills hidden in pomegranates, Al-Nujaidi said, adding that five members involved in the case were arrested, including four citizens and an expatriate.

He added that the detainees were apprehended and faced initial legal procedures before being sent to the Public Prosecution.