Watch: How Saudi Arabia and Oman joined hands in busting 6 million amphetamine pills
The haul was stashed in pastry and nuts shipment
Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s anti-drug police said in cooperation with their Omani counterpart they had foiled in an attempt to smuggle over 6 million amphetamine pills hidden in a shipment of pastry, citrus and nuts.
Spokesman for the Saudi General Directorate of Narcotics Control Maj. Marwan Al Hazami said two people had been arrested in Riyadh in connection with the haul.
The suspects are a resident expatriate and a Syrian visitor, the official added without saying when or where the cargo had been uncovered.
In recent months, Saudi authorities have stepped up a crackdown dubbed as a war against drugs on narcotics smuggling and trafficking.
Authorities there have reported thwarting a series of attempts to smuggle drugs into the kingdom.
Saudi customs officers last week said they had had seized 1.3kg of heroin and 41 grams of opium inside a traveller’s guts upon his arrival at the King Abdulaziz airport in the Red Sea of Jeddah.
Two would-be recipients of the haul were arrested.
Earlier this month, customs officers at the King Abdulaziz airport thwarted an attempt to smuggle 168,274 Captagon pills hidden inside a beehive shipment.
In March, the kingdom’s anti-drug police said they had seized 4.9 million amphetamine pills 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.
The month before, the anti-drug police announced thwarting an attempt to smuggle 1.5 million amphetamine pills found hidden in a shipment of building materials.
Would-be recipients of the shipment in Riyadh and the Eastern Province were arrested.
Drug smuggling and trafficking is an offence punishable by up to death in Saudi Arabia.
