Saudi Arabia foils major drug smuggling attempts across borders

Cairo: Saudi customs authorities said they had foiled three attempts to smuggle drugs into the kingdom via border crossings, the latest in a string of such attempts.

In a breakdown, the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority (Zatca) stated that the first attempt had been thwarted at the King Fahd Causeway, which links the kingdom and Bahrain. Approximately 120,370 Captagon pills and 45,975 other prohibited pills were found hidden inside the cavities of a vehicle’s doors at the facility.

The second attempt was uncovered at the Haditha crossing on the border with Jordan, where customs officers discovered 21,011 Captagon pills hidden inside a traveller’s bag.

In the third attempt, customs officials at the Red Sea Duba port foiled an attempt to smuggle 34,084 Captagon pills, which were found stashed inside the driver’s seat cavity of a truck arriving at the harbour.

After foiling the bids, Zatca coordinated with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control, and two would-be recipients of the seized items inside the kingdom were arrested.

'War on drugs'

Saudi Arabia has intensified its crackdown on narcotics smugglers and traffickers in what is dubbed the 'war on drugs' and has recently reported a series of thwarted attempts.

In November, the Saudi anti-drug police reported seizing 2.4 million tablets of narcotic amphetamines in Riyadh. The haul had been hidden inside metal pipes. Two Syrian nationals were apprehended in connection with the case.

Also in November, Saudi authorities announced foiling an attempt to smuggle 11.9 million tablets of amphetamines at the Red Sea port of Jeddah. The contraband had been hidden inside a container of gypsum board building materials.

In October, Saudi customs officers uncovered an attempt to smuggle 2.4 million Captagon pills also at the Jeddah port. The haul had been hidden in a shipment arriving at the kingdom via the port.