Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s border guards had foiled attempts to smuggle nearly 54 tonnes of drugs into the kingdom and arrested hundreds of smugglers in connection, a security official has said.
Spokesman for the kingdom’s border guard agency Col Mesfr Al Quraini said that patrols had thwarted attempts to smuggle 52.3 tonnes of stimulant qat, 1.6 tonnes of hashish and 352,325 amphetamine narcotic tablets over three weeks in the areas of Najran, Jizan, asir and Al Jouf.
A total of 406 smugglers, including 44 Saudis, were arrested in connection to the bids, he added.
The others were 362 foreign violators of the kingdom’s border security rules, he added. They were 282 Yemenis, 69 Ethiopians, six Somalis, three Jordanians and one each from Sudan and Syria.
The Interior Ministry has posted a video of the haul and the arrests.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia foiled several attempts to smuggle drugs into its territory.
Saudi Arabia’s anti-drug police said last week they had seized 4.9 million amphetamine narcotic tablets hidden in a shipment of cables.
A border security violator holding the Syrian nationality had been arrested as a would-be recipient of the haul in Riyadh, spokesman for the General Directorate of Narcotic Control Major Mohammed Al Najeidi said.
Last month, Saudi anti-drug police announced thwarting an attempt to smuggle 1.5 million amphetamine tablets found hidden in a shipment of building materials.
Would-be recipients of the shipment in Riyadh and the Eastern Province were arrested.
In November, the Saudi Interior Ministry said border guard patrols had foiled bids to smuggle large amounts of drugs into several areas of the kingdom including 671 kilograms of hashish, and 26.5 tons of the qat.
Eighty-two smugglers were arrested in connection to the thwarted attempts.
In December, Saudi police said they had seized more than 2 million narcotic tablets hidden inside a consignment of wooden planks used for kitchens in Riyadh.
Drug smuggling and trafficking is an offence punishable by up to death in Saudi Arabia.
