Saudi Arabia: Drug peddler nabbed after firing at police

Abu DhabI: A Saudi drug peddler, in his 30s, was arrested after he exchanged fire with police in Al Kharma, a village in Al Madinah Province in western Saudi Arabia, police said.

The man was remanded in custody pending trial, police added.

Saudi Arabia is considering ending the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences, a change that could spare the lives of dozens of prisoners in the kingdom every year, according to an official.

The initiative appears aimed at countering outrage over the kingdom’s human rights record, including its mass executions.

The consequences of removing drug offences from the list of capital crimes could be significant: Nearly 40 per cent of the roughly 800 executions carried out in Saudi Arabia over the past five years were for offences such as narcotics trafficking, according to Reprieve, a human rights group that tracks the use of the death penalty in the kingdom.