Tripoli, 25 October 2013:
The Omar Mukhtar Brigade of the Tobruk border guards seized some two million pharmaceutical tablets being illegally smuggled . . .[restrict]into the country from Egypt this morning.
The tablets were Tramadol – an opioid analgesic mainly used as a painkiller – and were being transported in a Libyan car, according to Libyan news agency LANA.
The driver of the vehicle was arrested and the Public Prosecutor ordered the tablets to be destroyed.
The tablets have been described as hallucinogenic, although Tramadol is not known to have hallucinogenic properties. It is commonly prescribed as a painkiller and to treat a number of ailments, including rheumatoid arthritis and motor neurone disease. [/restrict]