Border Guards seize cache of arms along Jazan border

ARAB NEWS STAFF

Saudi Border Guards captured 18 Kalashnikovs following a gun fight with cross-border smugglers close to the Saudi-Yemeni border in the Jazan province Sunday night.
The smugglers were stopped from entering the Saudi territory.
“Border Guards patrols noticed a group of smugglers attempting to enter into Saudi territory with the help of thermal cameras. After an exchange of gunfire with the border guards, the smugglers turned back and fled, abandoning their belongings, which included 18 machine guns of the Kalashnikov class,” Brig. Abdullah Mahfouz, spokesman of the Border Guards in Jazan, said.
He said that no security personnel was injured in the gun fight.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Al-Sobhi, commander of the Border Guards in Jazan, congratulated border guards for their efforts to maintain security.
Al-Sobhi also stressed the importance of citizens supplying information about illegal infiltrators or smugglers and to call 994 if they notice suspicious activity.
Border guards seized 341 weapons of various types, 1,066 pieces of ammunition, 81 narcotic tablets, 239,547 kg of qat plants, 670 kg of hashish, 65 kg of food items, 8,492 kg of snuff, 1,399 kg of fireworks and 5,123 livestock during the month of October, apart from arresting 27,603 infiltrators and 598 smugglers.
They also confiscated currency worth SR330,793 from the smugglers, the spokesman said.