Watch: Saudi Arabia busts 1.9 million drug tablets stashed in machinery in Riyadh warehouse

Cairo: Saudi anti-drug police said they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle over 1.9 million narcotic tablets, the latest such foiled attempt in the kingdom.

Spokesman for the kingdom’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control, Major Mohammed Al Najeidi, said the smuggling attempt had been thwarted in coordination with the counterpart anti-drug agency in Oman and in coordination with the Saudi Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority.

The haul of the amphetamine drug tablets had been seized in a shipment of machinery inside a warehouse in Riyadh, the official added.

Nine recipients, including three Saudis, a Gulf national, a Syrian expatriate, two Bangladeshi and two Pakistani residents, were arrested in connection to the seized haul.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has foiled a series of attempts to smuggle drugs into the kingdom.

Last month, Saudi authorities uncovered an attempt to smuggle around 3.9 million drug tablets hidden inside a pepper shipment.

Last August, Saudi anti-drug police had thwarted a bid to smuggle around 2.25 million tablets of amphetamine stashed into floor mops at the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Drug smuggling and trafficking is an offence punishable by up to death in Saudi Arabia.