1.7 mln amphetamine tablets seized in southern Turkey

HATAY – Doğan News Agency

AA photo

Nearly 1.7 million drug tablets known for their use by fighters in Syria have been seized in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay.

Hatay Police Department Trafficking and Organized Crimes Unit officers seized 1.68 million tablets of fenethylline hydrochloride, a drug compound publicly known as “captagon,” after searching a truck in Hatay’s İskenderun district on Dec. 22.

Captagon tablets, amphetamine drugs that stimulate the central nervous system and boost physical performance, have purportedly been used by jihadis fighting in Syria.

The truck reportedly was readying to take the plastic-bagged tablets abroad when it was searched by police officers. The driver was detained on the charge of international drug trafficking. The plate number of the truck and the name of its driver were not revealed.

The Hatay Governor’s Office stated 10.9 million captagon tablets were seized in November and that the latest seizure made the total number of captagon tablets seized in the city 13.3 million.

The move came about a month after police seized a shipment of 1.8 tons of captagon in an operation in the southern city bordering Syria.

The seized shipment of 11 million tablets is thought to have been bound for the Gulf.

The drug is also said to be manufactured and sold by the warring sides in Syria to fund the civil war. Prices vary but it has been reportedly sold for as much as $20 per tablet in cities such as Dubai.