RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: The Saudi authorities on Tuesday seized a large cache of narcotics in Riyadh, Duba Port, Al Haditha, Jazan, and the Asir region as the Kingdom has intensified its crackdown on drug smuggling operations.
The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority thwarted three attempts to smuggle 651,909 captagon pills in Duba Port and Al Haditha, and apprehended seven persons involved in the smuggling.
In the first two attempts, the authorities found the pills hidden in a consignment whereas in the third attempt, the contraband items were hidden in the floor cavities of a truck.
Separately in Riyadh, the Saudi General Directorate for Narcotics Control arrested three residents of Palestinian and Sudanese nationalities for selling 133,008 tablets of amphetamine and hashish.
The estimated street value of the pills seized in the various smuggling attempts ranged between USS$7.8 million and U$ 19.5 million, according to research published in the International Addiction Review Journal based on assumptions that users pay in the range of US$ 10-25 a pill.
In the Asir region, the border guards foiled an attempt to smuggle 100 kilograms of khat.
In another operation at Aldair governorate of Jazan, a security patrol thwarted an attempt to smuggle khat by three Ethiopian nationals.
