A Lebanese official says Beirut airport authorities have foiled one of the country’s largest drug smuggling attempts, seizing two tonnes of the amphetamine fenethylline before they were loaded on to the private plane of a Saudi prince.

The official said the prince and four others had been detained on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give official statements.

The manufacture of fenethylline pills thrives in Lebanon and war-torn Syria, which have become a gateway for the drug to the Middle East and particularly the Gulf.

In a 2014 report, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime says the amphetamine market is on the rise in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria accounting for more than 55% of amphetamines seized worldwide.