Last week, Saudi Arabia decided to issue a ban on all produce coming from Beirut after seizing millions of captain pills hidden inside pomegranates. Few hours later, Saudi’s Center for International Communication shared an infographic showing the number of Captagon pills shipped from Lebanon over the last 12 months.
As you can see below, the smugglers used grapes, pomegranates, apples and potatoes to stuff their pills. Exporting fruits and vegetables to Saudi Arabia brought in $29 million in 2019, and the ban is a major blow to the sector especially that other GCC countries are considering banning Lebanese produce as well.
