Libyan court convicts six people for illegal drug production

TRIPOLI: A court in Libya has convicted six people of producing the psychotropic substance Captagon for trafficking, the latest move to tackle the illegal spread of the amphetamine-type stimulant.

The North African nation has become a major regional transit hub for synthetic drugs and other narcotics, the UN said in January. Captagon, or fenethylline, is known as the ‘poor man’s cocaine’ and is popular in the Middle East.

The court in Qubbah, a small town in eastern Libya, sentenced the first defendant to 25 years in prison and imposed a fine of 22,000 dinars ($3,445), the Tripoli-based attorney general office, which works for the whole country, said late on Thursday.