Kuwait finds 17kg of drugs smuggled in stomachs of live sheep
Kuwait has thwarted an attempt to smuggle 17 kilograms of drugs into the country inside live sheep.
“Seventeen kilograms of amphetamine were found hidden in the guts of imported sheep and were seized by officials in the presence of the Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Al Sabah in the Kabd area, west of the country,” state news agency Kuna reported.
Authorities said the drugs came from neighbouring countries but did not specify their origin.
The suspected smugglers were “referred to the relevant authorities to take the necessary legal measures,” they said.
Sheikh Thamer spoke of his “pride and appreciation” of security officials’ efforts to protect the country from drug trafficking.
Last month, they seized 4kg of drugs hidden inside a furniture container shipped from Iran at Shuwaikh Port.
The amphetamine derivative Captagon is the most widely smuggled narcotic in the region
In August, customs authorities said they had seized 1.5kg of drugs hidden in boxes of fruit from Iran.
Narcotic trafficking, production and consumption in the Middle East have increased tremendously in the past decade.
The synthetic amphetamine derivative Captagon has become the most widely smuggled narcotic in the Middle East.
Millions of pills are intercepted by customs officials in the Gulf every month as authorities in the region continue to take action against trafficking.
Captagon, a brand name for fenethylline hydrochloride, was originally produced in the 1960s as a replacement for methamphetamine and was used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and, less commonly, depression.
It was banned in most countries in the 1980s because of its highly addictive nature.
Commercial manufacturing of the drug stopped but illegal production continues, often of counterfeit pills sold as Captagon.