Customs Seize 1.95M Amphetamine Pills in Lentil Truck

Customs officers at the Al-Haditha border crossing in northern Saudi Arabia foiled an attempt to smuggle 1,950,581 amphetamine pills hidden inside a truck shipment declared as lentils, which arrived on 28 August 2026.

The pills were uncovered during routine customs procedures, with officers relying on advanced security screening technologies and detection methods, including K9 sniffer-dog units. The shipment was seized and the truck detained pending further action.

Following the seizure, coordination was initiated with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control to identify and arrest the intended recipients inside the Kingdom — a step that has become standard practice in narcotics cases handled at Saudi ports.

Part of a wider crackdown

Authorities say inspection and targeting measures at land ports such as Al-Haditha are being tightened, with a focus on high-risk shipments selected through risk-based profiling tools for intensive inspection.

The seizure follows several large operations in 2026, including more than 4.7 million pills intercepted at Jeddah Islamic Port and over 1.8 million pills at Al-Bathaa Port. Across the year, Saudi customs ports have foiled more than 1,100 smuggling attempts and seized over 25 million narcotic and prohibited pills.

For the community, the case is a reminder that declaring prohibited goods under a false commodity — such as narcotics disguised as lentils — is a customs offence that leads to seizure of goods, possible administrative fines, and referral to the competent authorities for criminal prosecution. Commercial importers are required to pre-declare all inbound shipments through licensed customs brokers or their company accounts, submitting supporting documents such as the commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and transport papers electronically for review.

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