AMMAN — Jordan Customs Department (JCD) officials on Monday said agents had seized 30,000 Captagon pills found hidden in the luggage of passengers of a bus entering the country via the Jaber border crossing from Syria.

“Following a thorough search of two passengers’ belongings, agents found the illegal narcotics hidden in their luggage,” a senior JCD official said.

The official added that the men were referred to the State Security Court prosecution for questioning.

“The pills were destined for a neighbouring country,” the official told The Jordan Times.

Captagon (fenethylline) is a synthetic stimulant similar to amphetamine.

Although banned in most countries in the 1980s, illegally produced and smuggled Captagon — sometimes containing amphetamine instead of fenethylline — is a common drug of abuse in the Middle East, according to web sources.

JCD Director Maj. Gen. Ghaleb Sarayreh said this operation was part of his department’s efforts to combat all kinds of smuggling operations, including human trafficking, in order to ensure “economic and social stability in the country”.

Also on Monday, JCD agents aborted an attempt to smuggle 60 wristwatches that were hidden in a vehicle entering the country from the same border crossing.

The brand-name watches were hidden in a secret compartment in the vehicle, and were discovered by JCD agents who became suspicious of the vehicle, the official added.

“The watches were seized and will be examined by an official expert who will assess their value and impose fines before returning them to their owner,” the source added.