Saudi authorities said on Sunday that they had seized more than five million amphetamine tablets and arrested 11 people in one of the kingdom’s largest drug busts.
The suspects — nine Saudis and two Sudanese citizens — were arrested in Riyadh as an illegal deal was being completed, state news agency SPA quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying.
Three grams of heroin, a machine gun and a pistol were also seized from the suspects, the spokesman said without elaborating.
Drug smuggling appears to be on the rise in the country despite a crackdown by the authorities.
The interior ministry announced in November that it had seized a total of 22.4 million amphetamine tablets, 28.8 tons of cannabis and 26.2 kilograms of heroin in the last Islamic calendar year.
Drug smuggling is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
