Saudi customs officials seized 17 million amphetamine pills along with 687 kg of hashish and sizeable amounts of heroin and opium in the first six months of 2010, officials said.

They also seized from smugglers 44,000 bottles of alcohol, which is strictly forbidden in the kingdom, said customs spokesman Abdallah Kharboush, said a report in ours sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

In the past two years Saudi customs and narcotics officials have intercepted tens of millions of amphetamine pills, usually a synthetic version known in the region as Captagon.

In December, authorities announced they had arrested more than 150 people, seizing large amounts of Captagon pills and 2.37 tonnes of hashish. – TradeArabia News Service