Nearly 10 million Captagon stimulant pills were seized over a three-month period, a Ministry of Interior spokesman said here Wednesday. In the three months to mid-September, the ministry said, its forces seized 9.92 million of the pills, as well as 6.4 tons of hashish and 10.1 kg of heroin. The ministry valued the drugs at SR330 million ($88 million), and 210 arrests were made in the seizures, according to the spokesman. Three security personnel also lost their lives in these anti-drug operations as security officials faced armed resistance in more than 18 operations. Two suspects were also killed. One man died after swallowing a plastic bag containing 2.6 gram of hashish, the statement said. Those arrested between June 14 and Sept. 9 of this year include 113 Saudis, 31 Pakistanis, 21 Yemenis, 18 Syrians, 11 Filipinos, five Egyptians, three Indians, three Ethiopians, two Eritreans, one Sudanese, one Kuwaiti and one Jordanian, the statement said. Authorities also seized 66 pistols, two machine guns, two rifles and more than SR2 million in cash that was collected from drug trafficking. The spokesman praised continuing cooperation with Saudi Customs in coordinating the seizures and stressed that security men will continue to carry out their duties to protect society from the scourge of drugs, arrest anyone who seeks to smuggle or sell drugs, bring them to justice and punish them.
