The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was authorized to give official statements.
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Abd al-Muhsen bin Walid bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud was detained on Monday in Beirut’s Rafik Hariri worldwide Airport.
Investigators said they found 40 bags of Captagon Amphetamine pills and a few cocaine aboard the plane, which was about to depart for the northern Saudi city of Hael.
According to foreign media they were charged with attempting to smuggle pills of captagon, an amphetamine allegedly widely used among fighters in the Middle East.
Captagon, originally the trade name for the synthetic stimulant fenetylline, was first produced in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression.
In April 2014, security forces foiled an attempt to smuggle 15 million capsules of Captagon hidden in shipping containers full of corn from Beirut’s port.
The drug is popular in Lebanon and war-torn Syria, which have become a gateway for the drug to the Middle East and particularly the Gulf.
The incident is the latest in a line of run-ins between members of Saudi Arabia’s large royal family and authorities overseas.
The prince was arrested and taken in for questioning along with four other people.
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In 2013, a Saudi princess accused of enslaving a Kenyan woman as a housemaidalso eventually had the charges dropped against her.
