Hamas torches $6 million of drugs
Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip crack down on the painkiller Tramadol
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s Hamas rulers have confiscated and destroyed more than 2 million tablets of a painkiller popular with the local residents who say it alleviates the pain of their daily lives in the impoverished Palestinian territory.
The heist was part of a Hamas police operation targeting contraband drugs, including cocaine and hashish, but also alcohol, which is banned by the Islamist group. The painkiller, Tramadol, is a controlled substance in the Gaza Strip and can only be obtained with a prescription.
Police showed off the booty at a news conference on Tuesday, estimating the drugs’ street value at $6 million.
After the news conference, police dumped the pills in a hospital incinerator, and emptied out bottles of alcohol in the hospital garden.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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