Saudi border guards foil drugs smuggling bids

Cairo: Saudi border guards had foiled attempts to smuggle large quantities of drugs inside the kingdom, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported Saturday.

The attempts were foiled in the last Islamic month of Shaaban in the Saudi regions of Jizan, Asir and Nijran near the border with Yemen.

The haul included a total of 1,076kg of hashish and 1,377kg of the illicit intoxicating qat, the report said.

Some 101 people were arrested for involvement in the aborted attempts.

Drug trafficking is a crime punishable by the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.