Manama: Prison authorities in Al Qassim in the heart of Saudi Arabia have foiled an attempt by a prisoner to smuggle in 722 pills.
The inmate had been accorded a 24-hour respite to be reunited with his family under a scheme to help reform and rehabilitate prisoners.
However, when he returned to prison, he was thoroughly searched by the officers in the Buraidah prison and they discovered the drugs hidden in “sensitive areas of his body and in his stomach,” local news site Sabq reported on Tuesday.
Turki Al Harbi, the head of public relations at Al Qassim Prisons, said that it was the first time an inmate had tried to bring such a large quantity of drugs into prison.
“The attempt was foiled thanks to the vigilance of the officers keen on ensuring no banned substances are sneaked into the prison,” he said.
Saudi Arabia allows conjugal visits and married prisoners and detainees who have been held for more than three months may spend up to three hours in private with their wives once a month.
Prisoners who have spent at least half of their sentence and who are known for their good conduct and behaviour are given 24 hour conjugal visits to their homes.
Online comments on the pill smuggling attempt called for stringent action against prisoners for abusing the system and possibly depriving other inmates from benefiting from the social rehabilitation programme.
