Cairo: The stimulant Qat topped the types of drugs seized by Saudi border guards in the first half of this year amid a relentless clampdown in the kingdom on narcotics trafficking and smuggling, according to a media report.
Around 263 tons of qat were seized across the Saudi borders in the first six months of 2023, followed by 7.3 tons of hashish, Saudi newspaper Al Watan reported.
Over the past months, the Saudi border patrols have maximised their efforts to expose smugglers of drugs, mainly qat unlawfully smuggled across the border from Yemen.
Saudi regions in the south bordering Yemen have witnessed a series of swoops on drug smugglers and seized hauls.
According to the report, 24.3 tons of qat and 559kg of hashish were seized in the first half of this year in the south-western region of Jazan.
In Asir another region in the south, 1,609kg of q and 576kg of hashish were seized during the same period.
In recent months, Saudi authorities have ramped up its anti-drug war and reported foiling a string of attempts to smuggle narcotics into the kingdom.
Last month, authorities said customs officers had thwarted a traveller’s attempt to smuggle heroin and opium in Jeddah.
The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (Zatca) said its officials had seized 1.3kg of heroin and 41 grams of opium inside the traveller’s guts upon his arrival at the King Abdulaziz airport in the Red Sea of Jeddah.
Two would-be recipients of the haul were arrested in connection with the attempt, Zatc said.
Also in July, customs officers at the King Abdulaziz airport foiled an attempt to smuggle 168,274 Captagon pills hidden inside a beehive shipment.
Zatca said the haul had been uncovered when the beehive boxes had been subjected to customs procedures at the airport.
