Beirut, Apr 15 (IANS): Lebanese Internal Security Forces have thwarted a smuggling attempt of nearly 10 million Captagon pills from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia through Senegal, said Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.

"The Information Division of the Internal Security Forces thwarted the smuggling operation of the pills stuffed in a shipment of rubber carbon," Mawlawi said on his Twitter account on Friday.

He added that the information division identifies the members of the network and the warehouse of the pills in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, Xinhua news agency reported.

In recent months, Lebanese security forces launched dozens of operations to monitor coastal and land borders with Syria to identify smuggling routes and reduce such activities.

Previous incidents prompted Saudi Arabia to suspend shipments of Lebanese fruit and vegetables entering the kingdom or transiting through its territory after Saudi authorities thwarted an attempt last April to smuggle more than five million Captagon pills from Lebanon.

Captagon, the trademark name for the synthetic stimulant fenethylline, was first produced in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression, but was banned in most countries in the 1980s as too addictive.

The drug remains hugely popular in the Middle East, and is cheap and simple to make.