Abu Dhabi: Saudi authorities have thwarted the smuggling of 90 million amphetamine pills in three months, Minister of Interior, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef, said on Sunday.
Attempts to smuggle 7.9 tons of hashish and 5.5 kg of cocaine were also foiled during the period, the minister added on his Twitter account.
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been carrying out drug smuggling missions for several years on the Pakistani-Afghan borders, reaching Iraq and the Gulf waters, including the Arabian Sea and Yemen, in addition to using its arms in Lebanon, Syria and Israel,” former director general of the Saudi Border Guard, Lieutenant General Talal Mohsen Al Anqawi, told Al Watan.
Saudi authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 9.5 million amphetamine pills into the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday.
Capt. Mohammed bin Khaled Al Najidi, a spokesperson for the General Directorate for Narcotics Control, said security officials monitoring criminal networks discovered 9,504,000 pills hidden in a shipment of wooden planks.
As a result of the investigation, four Saudis and two Syrian citizens were arrested, he added.
Drug offences can be punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
