Saudi prince held after drugs found on jet

A SAUDI prince has been detained at Beirut airport in Lebanon after two tons of an amphetamine drug popular with Syrian rebels was found on a private jet.

Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four other men were held after what was described as the biggest drugs bust at the city’s main Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to local media and security sources.

They were allegedly “attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine,” a security source was quoted as saying. Captagon is a brand name for the widely used amphetamine phenethylline. It is the drug of choice for front-line fighters on both sides in the Syrian war, allowing a heightened state of alertness.

It is unclear where the pills allegedly found in Beirut were ultimately to be sold, although the plane was said to be heading back to Saudi Arabia.