Saudi Prince Arrested For Allegedly Smuggling Two Tons Of Drugs

A Saudi Arabian prince has found himself in hot water after his private plane was detained this week for allegedly trying to fly two tons of drugs out of Lebanon.

Prince Abdel Mohsen bin Walid bin Abdulaziz, 29, was detained on Monday after security officials at Beirut International Airport seized 40 suitcases containing more than 4,000 pounds of Captagon and cocaine. Captagon is an amphetamine that is popular in the Middle East and reportedly used by ISIS in Syria. Its common side effects include both euphoria and hyperactivity.

Abdulaziz and four other people accompanying him were questioned by customs officials, but the results of that investigation have not yet been announced. However, officials in Lebanon have confirmed that it was one of the largest drug-smuggling attempts in the country.

Although it’s unclear what charges or punishment Abdulaziz faces, he is certainly lucky it didn’t take place in Saudi Arabia. The notoriously strict country has routinely held public beheadings of drug traffickers, with 24 losing their heads last year. Saudi Arabia does not have a civil penal code that sets out sentencing rules or a way of predicting sentencing based on past outcomes, which often leaves smugglers at the mercy of a judge’s discretion.

But Abdulaziz isn’t the only Saudi prince being accused of drug use. Last month, Prince Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud was arrested in Beverly Hills after a female worker accused him of trying to force her to perform a sex act on him during a three-day party at the $37 million Beverly Hills home where he was staying.

Although LA County prosecutors declined to file felony sexual assault charges against him, the civil lawsuit filed against him by three women also accused him of heavy drinking and cocaine use.

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