It's been a very uncomfortable few weeks for the Saudi Royal Family. First, there was that raunchy LA mansion scandal, a laundry list of offenses from which the Saudi prince in question basically got to walk away. But the charges facing another Saudi prince this week in Lebanon may be harder to evade. You know, being the biggest drug bust in Lebanon's recent history and all.
Authorities at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport reportedly stopped a Monday flight to Saudi Arabia on the prince's personal jet after finding two tons of narcotics onboard, local media reported, including 40 suitcases full of the Middle East's widely used amphetamine, captagon.
The prince, who has been identified as Abd al-Muhsen bin Walid bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, was detained with four others at the airport.
Now the story's making waves on social media, with users musing on what's next in the latest addition to a growing list of inter-continental Saudi scandals.
Check out some of the responses below.
From refences to Lebanon's ongoing trash crisis...
أجمل شي بالسعوديين انو بقارنو الأمير بالزبالة عنا موضوع يستحق التأمل #اذا_انسجن_الامير #مملكه_الكبتاغون #عقوبه_سم_طال_عمرك
— Heba (@hiba221191) October 27, 2015The funniest thing about Saudis is that they compare their prince with our trash.
...to quips about Hajj.
هول مش للتجارة .. الامير عندو سهرة احتفالية بنجاح موسم الحج #عقوبه_سم_طال_عمرك https://t.co/5Z7Rt1iWAG
— مصدر مسؤول (@fouadkhreis) October 26, 2015This is not drug trafficking, he just had a big celebration after a successful Hajj season.
Musing on whether Lebanon's former PM Saad al-Hariri would step in.
هلىء بيجي سعد الحريري بياخدوا معوا على السعودية. #عقوبة_سم_طال_عمرك .
— #'мαяσ! أمّ مِيرا (@MaroALasad) October 26, 2015
Saad Al Hariri will take him back to KSA.
Then there was Hezbollah.
مباشر تلفزيون المستقبل و نادي فانز السعودية: حزب الله مسؤول عن عملية التهريب #عقوبه_سم_طال_عمرك
— Heba (@hiba221191) October 26, 2015Future TV channel will be like: it’s Hezbollah fault they put the drugs in his bags.
Then the snarky speculation—if captagon is used so much here in the Middle East, does it make the drug halal?
طلعت المخدرات يلي معُه مخدرات إسلامية لا تظلمُوه #عقوبة_سم_طال_عمرك .
— #'мαяσ! أمّ مِيرا (@MaroALasad) October 26, 2015Don’t be too harsh on him, this is Halal drugs.
And to bring it full circle, why not throw in President Bashar al-Assad?
#عقوبة_سم_طال_عمرك خلوا يطلع مسيرة للرئيس الأسد ... ويهتف : بالروح بالدم نفديك يا بشار ههههههههههه
— j.alashkar (@j_alashkar) October 26, 2015If you want to punish him let him walk down the streets and cheer the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
By Alisa Reznick
