Libyan security agency intercepts 100,000 ecstasy pills shaped like Gaddafi

Libyan security officials announced the seizure of approximately 100,000 ecstasy tablets that were molded to display the face and shoulders of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi. The pills, described as brown pellets with his distinctive features and robes impressed onto their surface, were discovered hidden in a cargo van after authorities received a tip and tracked the shipment from a European country to a Libyan port. The operation was carried out by Al Rada for Combating Terrorism and Organized Crime, a body under the Tripoli-based Presidential Council, and several suspects have been sent to prosecutors.

Images released by the agency show the pills arranged in sacks. A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report from January noted that Libya has become a major transit point for synthetic drugs across North Africa and beyond, a situation exploited by criminal groups amid the country's ongoing instability since the 2011 uprising.