Egypt authorities seize 18 million narcotic pills at Alexandria port

The drugs comprised 34 tonnes of pills of an undisclosed kind worth about $60m, Egypt's Interior Ministry said

Part of a shipment of more than 34 tonnes of drugs intercepted by Egyptian authorities at Alexandria. Photo: Egyptian Ministry of Interior

Eighteen million narcotic pills were confiscated by Egyptian security forces at a port in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

A video showing police vehicles driving through the port was posted on the ministry's official Facebook page on Monday. A statement said the drugs were found inside three large shipping containers.

Narcotics bust at a port in Alexandria. Photo: Ministry of Interior

The pills, whose value amounted to 1.5 billion Egyptian pounds, according to the ministry, arrived on a vessel whose documents claimed it was transporting calcium carbonate pills, a dietary supplement.

The shipment weighed about 34 tonnes and was packaged inside 56 parcels, the ministry said. They “arrived from a foreign port and were only on transit in Alexandria on their way to another foreign port”, the ministry said, without specifying which ports were involved.

The operation was accomplished by a combined effort involving the interior ministry, the National Security Authority, the Anti Narcotics General Administration and Alexandria Port security.

The ministry’s statement did not specify the type of the narcotic but said they were substances that “affect users’ psychological state and nervous system”.

In pictures: the Middle East's war on drugs

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, trafficking in amphetamines has increased in the Middle East in recent years. Photo: Dubai Customs

Specially trained K-9 units are often used by border forces to intercept shipments. EPA

Experts believe the amount intercepted accounts for only around a tenth of the total quantity of pills being smuggled out of places like Syria and Jordan. EPA

Dubai Customs thwarted 398 attempts to smuggle drugs into the city in the first three months of this year. Photo: Dubai Customs

Captagon pills on display after being seized in Greece in 2019. EPA

Captagon became synonymous with the Syrian Civil War. AFP

The small, off-white pills have quickly become one of the most widely consumed drugs in the Middle East. EPA

Millions of Captagon pills are seized around the world each year. EPA

Captagon pills on display after a major interception of a shipment in 2009. Nicole Hill / The National

Customs officers say Captagon smugglers prefer to use sea ports rather than airports because of the size of shipping containers, enabling them to conceal larger quantities of drugs. Photo: Dubai Customs

Security officials also arrested eight men of various nationalities belonging to the crew of the ship. In their possession, security officials also found four laptops, one GPS device, 10 mobile phones and an undisclosed amount of cash.

“When confronted with the containers’ contents they admitted to what our investigations revealed,” the ministry said.

Further investigations are under way and the legal action will be taken against the crew, police said.