Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi authorities have seized a haul of 224 kg of hashish hidden in a truck loaded with cattle fodder and barley. Three Saudi nationals, including two women, have been arrested in this regard.

The illicit quantity was uncovered at a security checkpoint in the governorate of Al-Daer in the south-western region of Jazan, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday.

The detained male driver of the truck and two women escorts are being referred to pertient security agencies, said Col. Ahmed Al-Towayan, director of relations and media at the Interior Ministry’s Agency for Security Affairs.

The smuggling bid is the latest foiled in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

Last week the kingdom’s customs authorities reported thwarting an attempt to smuggle in to the country 570,520 pills of Captagon pills that were elaborately stashed into a cargo of sweet melons. The quantity was seized at the border crossing of Al-Haditha with Jordan.

Drug smuggling is an offence punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.