Saudi war on drugs pays off

(MENAFN- Arab News) The Interior Ministry on Sunday said it had seized over four million pills of amphetamines four tons of hashish and around three kilos of raw heroin during a recent operation which was the result of the campaigns and raids against drug dealers and smugglers carried out during the past two months of the Hijri year 1435.

Speaking at a press conference the ministry's spokesperson Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said security forces had apprehended 392 individuals involved in the sale promotion and smuggling of narcotics throughout the Kingdom over the past two months adding that 103 of the detainees were Saudis while the remaining 289 belong to 26 different nationalities.

Security officers fought fiercely to capture the smugglers and dealers with 10 men sustaining injuries and one of the detainees wounded he said noting that the security forces also seized cash during the operation that came up to SR4407198. Over 59000 tablets were seized as well.

This operation brings up the number of seized drugs in 1435 to over 41.4 million amphetamine pills 37 tons of hashish and 18 kg of raw heroin. The seized ready-to-sell heroin was estimated at around 6 kg. In addition officers have seized over 526 kg of high-purity cocaine and 741000 pills that are only sold on prescriptions.

The amounts of cash confiscated in the past Hijri year amounted to SR 34745066. Al-Turki pointed out that the operation was possible due to the clear coordination and integration between the Customs Department and the specialized security authorities in the follow-up monitoring and prevention of drug smuggling into the Kingdom.

He praised the security officers who arrested the criminals and stressed their keenness to carry out their duties and protect the citizens of the Kingdom from the dangers of drugs.