Watch: Saudis bust 1.6-ton hashish haul
3 nabbed over the bid foiled in border Najran province
Cairo: Saudi border guards had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1.6 tons of hashish, the kingdom’s Interior Ministry said.
The attempt had been aborted in Sharurah governorate in the Saudi southern Najran province bordering Yemen.
Three persons – a Yemeni violator of the kingdom’s border security law and two Saudis – were arrested for involvement in the bid, the ministry added.
The ministry posted a video showing the three after their apprehension and the seized haul.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia reported thwarting a series of attempts to smuggle drugs into the country as part of what is dubbed as the “war on drugs”.
In October, Saudi anti-drug police said they had seized 3.8 million amphetamine tablets in a swoop in the capital Riyadh.
Eleven suspects – eight expatriates and three Saudis – were arrested in connection with the haul, said Major Marwan Al Hazami, the spokesman for the Saudi General Directorate of Narcotics Control.
Also in October, Saudi customs authorities said they had foiled a bid to smuggle around 932,980 Captagon pills in a pomegranate shipment.
The haul was uncovered at the Saudi Duba port where the cargo coming from outside the kingdom had undergone customs procedures, the Saudi Zaka, Tax and Customs Authority (Zatca) said.