Tribune News Network
Doha
The Air Cargo and Private Airports division of the General Directorate of Customs in Qatar has foiled an attempt to smuggle large quantities of banned captagon drug pills into Qatar.
The contraband was concealed in a shipment of children's mattresses. The customs authorities seized a total of 9,156 pills.
Captagon, which is said to be the most in-demand narcotic in the Middle East, are being intercepted in millions by customs officials in the Gulf every month as the region continues to crack down on trafficking.
Captagon was first created in 1961 as an alternative to amphetamine and methamphetamine and was used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and, less commonly, depression.
The drug, however, was never given regulatory approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and in 1981 it was declared a controlled substance after the medical community determined that the drug’s addictive properties outweighed its clinical benefits.
By 1986 manufacturing Captagon had been outlawed in almost every country, but illegal production of the drug continued.
Captagon quickly became associated with the civil war in Syria, after reports emerged of fighters on both sides using the drug on the battlefield.
Talk of ISIS fighters being imbued with supernatural powers after dosing up on handfuls of pills were fanned by producers and the fighters themselves, but have largely been discredited by experts.