RIYADH: Saudi border guards have foiled an attempt by Yemenis to smuggle 274 kilos (603 pounds) of hashish into the kingdom by boat, a spokesman said.
The smugglers were heading to a site on the Red Sea coast Saturday when a Jeddah-based patrol vessel stopped them, spokesman Sahir bin Mohammed al-Harbi said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.
They “threw a number of bags overboard after they were surrounded. Four people were arrested,” he said, adding that a Yemeni waiting for them on land was also arrested.
Officers recovered the bags, which contained the hashish, Harbi said.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis live in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which has been leading led an Arab coalition fighting Shiite Huthi rebels there since March.
The interior ministry announced Sunday that anti-drug officers seized almost 30 tonnes of hashish, along with nearly as much heroin and millions of amphetamine pills, during the past Islamic year, which ended in mid-October.
Drug seizures are common despite the death penalty for traffickers.
In May, three Yemenis convicted of trying to smuggle hashish into the kingdom were executed in the southern border region of Jazan.
And earlier this month, Lebanese authorities charged a Saudi prince and other Saudis after a record drug bust.
Prince Abdel Mohsen bin Walid bin Abdulaziz was detained by Beirut airport security after he and others allegedly attempted to smuggle about two tonnes of the stimulant Captagon and cocaine aboard their private plane.
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