Drug dealers using wives to smuggle: Saudi official

Drug dealers in Saudi Arabia are using their wives to smuggle narcotics as police men are not allowed to search women, according to a Saudi counter-drug official.

Abdul Ilah Al Sharif, assistant director of the Saudi counter-drug department, said police had seized a large quantity of narcotics over the past few years smuggled by the dealers’ wives accompanying their husbands in their cars.

“Dealers have used their wives to smuggle drugs, taking advantage of the Saudi law forbidding police from searching women,” he told 'Ajel' newspaper.

“But we have seized a large amount of drugs smuggled by women although we did not have to search them. We relied on tip-offs and reliable information.”

Saudi Arabia is one of the most vulnerable Arab countries for drug trafficking as it is targeted by international drug gangs given its high per capita income and proximity to key Asian traffic producing countries. Hundreds of convicted drug smugglers have been executed in the Gulf Kingdom over the past years.

Official data showed more than 150 kg of heroin, 111 tonnes of hashish and 214 million drug pills have been seized by law enforcers in Saudi Arabia in the past four years.

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