‘Jihad drug’ bound for Gaza seized in smuggling bust

Amphetamine pills often used by ISIS terrorists seized by Israeli police; 21 pounds of the drug found hidden in refrigerators.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli authorities seized tens of thousands of amphetamine pills from a truck bound for the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening and detained the driver of the vehicle for further questioning.

Police officers from the city of Kiryat Gat were called to the Tarkomia Border Crossing, near Hebron, to inspect a truck that border agents found to be suspicious.

At first glance, the truck appeared to be transporting refrigerators for consumers and commercial use, but police found that much of the appliances’ internal insulation had been removed.

Bags containing Fenethylline stimulant pills, which are classified as a controlled substance in the U.S. and are illegal in most countries in the world, were found hidden inside the refrigerators.

The drugs weighed a total of 9.6 kilograms (about 21 pounds) and have a street value estimated at tens of thousand of shekels.

The pills, known as Captagon in the Middle East, are popular in the region for their stimulant effect.

The ISIS terror group is believed to have frequently given the drug to its fighters due to the pills’ ability to boost operatives’ energy, along with its appetite-reduction properties.

Captagon has earned the nickname the “jihad drug,” and is widely manufactured in Syria by terror groups.

In December 2022, Jordanian customs authorities seized 9 million Capatagon pills at the Al-Karamah border crossing between Iraq and the Hashemite Kingdom.

A Tunisian-French terrorist who drove a cargo truck through a crowd on Bastille Day in 2016, killing 86 people and wounding 434 others, was believed to have been under the influence of Captagon at the time of the attack.

Cypriot think tank COAR estimated that “Captagon exports from Syria reached a market value of at least $3.46 billion” in a 2021 report.