Libyan Agency Reports Seizing 100,000 Gaddafi-Faced Pills

Libyan authorities seized approximately 100,000 pills molded with the face and robes of Muammar Gaddafi. Al Rada for Combating Terrorism and Organised Crime described the tablets as XTC or ecstasy in a statement issued late Saturday, September 12. Investigators received a tip that a criminal network was preparing to ship the drugs to Libya by sea. Officers monitored the consignment until it reached an undisclosed Libyan port through an unnamed European country and discovered the pills concealed inside a cargo van. Al Rada released images of the tablets. A number of suspects were referred to prosecutors, but the number of detainees and their identities were not disclosed. Reuters reported the seizure on Sunday, September 13, 2026. Authorities identified the tablets as ecstasy, though no laboratory results have been published confirming chemical composition. The port, European transit country, suspects, and estimated street value were not identified. Gaddafi ruled Libya for 42 years before being removed and killed in the 2011 NATO-backed uprising. Libya remains divided between the UN-recognized Tripoli administration and eastern authorities aligned with Khalifa Haftar. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s January study found organised groups exploiting instability since 2011 to expand trafficking routes, with rising domestic synthetic drug use and cocaine moving through Libya toward Europe and the Middle East while synthetics enter North Africa.