Saudi Border Guards seize 700kg of cannabis smuggled from Yemen

JEDDAH: Saudi Border Guards have arrested 32 suspected drug smugglers and seized a total of 721.92 kilograms of cannabis over the past two weeks in the southern border regions of Jazan and Najran.
Border Guards spokesman Col. Saher bin Mohammed Al-Harbi said that several attempts were made to infiltrate the Kingdom’s borders to smuggle drugs.
“Border Guards forces arrested 27 Ethiopians, four Yemenis and one Saudi suspect and seized 721.92 kg of cannabis in their possession,” he said.
The spokesman said that this came after the seizure of more than a ton and 200 kilograms of hashish in Jazan, Najran, Asir and Makkah during the past two weeks.
Al-Harbi has reiterated that Border Guards continue to deal with all infiltration attempts and threats to border security, and that they are determined to protect the borders of the Kingdom from anything that targets its security, stability and capabilities.
Last week, the Interior Ministry announced that the number of arrested infiltrators into Saudi Arabia reached 27,264 in 2016, and 3,554 weapons were confiscated during the same period.
The ministry’s security spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki praised the guards for their work and said it includes many tasks and responsibilities.
During a press conference last week, the ministry reviewed a statistical report on the implementation of the guards’ tasks. The number of cases of infiltration attempts intercepted reached 2,779, while the attempts intercepted outside the Kingdom reached 580.
The director of the Department of Statistics at the General Directorate of Border Guards, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al-Qahtani, said most of the infiltrators outside the Kingdom are wanted on security or criminal charges.
Al-Qahtani revealed the seizure of more than 18 million narcotic pills, 80 percent of them in Tabuk. More than 22 tons of hashish were seized, in addition to thousands of weapons, many of them heavy.