Drugs, weapons, cash: Saudi Arabia reports 1,332 smuggling busts in a week

Cairo: Saudi customs authorities have registered thwarting 1,332 cases linked to smuggling illicit substances including drugs last week.

The seizures were part of ongoing efforts spearheaded by the Saudi Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (Zatca) to consolidate security and protect the country against different types of contraband.

The contraband included 106 types of narcotics and prohibited substances such as hashish, cocaine, heroin, and Captagon.

Officers at different customs clearance points of the kingdom, moreover, foiled a series of illegal attempts to smuggle tobacco products, 10 types of weapons and accessories as well as unspecified sums of cash money last week too.

Earlier this month, Zatca announced busting a total of 1,071 smuggling bids that included 68 cases of narcotic substances. 

The Authority also said its officers had thwarted an attempt to smuggle more than 46kg of cocaine hidden inside a shipment of frozen chicken at the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its crackdown on narcotics dealers in what is dubbed the “war on drugs” and has reported a string of aborted attempts over the past months.

On Friday, Zatca announced foiling an attempt to smuggle 11.3kg of the drug substance known as shabu, which was found hidden in a truck entering the kingdom through the border crossing of Batha. Three recipients of the cargo were apprehended.

In February, anti-drug police said they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 11.1 million amphetamine drug tablets hidden in a food shipment uncovered at the King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia.