Officers at Kuwait's international airport have foiled an attempt to smuggle in a large quantity of a "narcotic substance" using A4-sized sheets of paper, the General Administration of Customs said on Sunday.
The smuggling attempt was discovered when a passenger's luggage was being scanned. Closer inspection led to the discovery of 1,603 A4-sized sheets of paper, weighing a total of 13.154kg, "saturated" with the narcotic substance, the customs authority said.
It described the substance as a "chemical", without specifying its nature.
The passenger, a French national who arrived from London on a visitor's visa, and the seized narcotics were being handed over to the General Administration for Combating Drugs and Alcohol, it said.
The seizure comes just days after Kuwait announced the largest drugs bust in its history, seizing nearly $500 million worth of a medicine that has become a popular party drug.
The drug seized is commonly called Lyrica. It is the brand name for pregabalin, a prescription medicine mainly used to treat nerve pain and epilepsy, while in some countries it is used for generalised anxiety disorders.
The haul included five tonnes of the drug in powder form and almost four million capsules ready for sale, said Sheikh Fahad Al Yousef, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
