JEDDAH: Attempts to smuggle more than 1.2 million amphetamine tablets into Saudi Arabia have been thwarted by authorities in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.
The General Directorate of Narcotics Control arrested one person in Riyadh who was found in possession of more than 790,000 pills, while another individual was detained in Tabuk after 455,000 tablets were discovered during a raid carried out in cooperation with the General Directorate of Border Guard.
Maj. Mohammed Al-Najidi, spokesperson for the GDNC, said the two citizens have been referred to the public prosecution and preliminary legal steps have been taken against them.
Meanwhile, marine patrols in the Eastern Province intercepted an attempt to smuggle more than 75,000 amphetamine tablets into the Kingdom, according to the SPA. The pills, weighing a total of 10 kilograms, were “handed over to the competent authorities,” according to Col. Misfir Al-Qarini of the GDBG.
Authorities in the Kingdom have recently stepped up a crackdown on the smuggling, distribution and possession of illicit drugs. Last Friday, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority foiled two separate attempts to smuggle more than 2.4 million Captagon pills, one of the largest successes so far this month. Three people were arrested.
Earlier this month, authorities in Jeddah seized 829 amphetamine pills and arrested five people in connection with a plot to distribute large quantities of the drug. And in Taif region last month, two citizens were arrested in an operation during which 1 million amphetamine pills were seized.
