The Empty Quarter

Yemen is a well established transit country for drugs to the Gulf, due to its porous borders. Every so often foreigners are arrested for trafficking drugs through the Republic. Not all of the drugs are foreign though. It is a little known fact that there is a fair amount of hashish grown in the Haraz region (A well informed individual can buy bricks, as well as black market alcohol along the routes outside the capital…so I’ve been told and no, its not in Bani Hashish – that joke is old) There is of course a significant amount of qat smuggling into the Kingdom as well – although, most of that goes by plane, and the best of it comes from Africa.

Saudi raids ‘break up drug gangs’

 

Saudi authorities say they have broken up four big drug smuggling operations and arrested 35 suspected drug dealers.

Security forces seized more than 1,760kg of cannabis resin and more than 3m amphetamine tablets in raids across the country, officials said.

The interior ministry said inquiries showed that one of the groups had been involved in financial transactions worth more than $100m (£71m).

No details were given about when the raids took place.

The interior ministry said those arrested included 13 Saudis and 22 foreigners, according to a statement carried by the SPA official news agency.

One of the gangs, including seven Saudi nationals, had formed a network inside the kingdom to distribute the drugs, the statement said.

Interior ministry spokesman Gen Mansour al-Turki told the AFP news agency that there were “large amounts [of drugs] coming from the southern border” with Yemen.

Drug smuggling carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, and those convicted are usually executed in public.