Ahmad Abdullah and Mishal Al-Otaibi Saudi Gazette RIYADH – Smuggling has decreased by third over the past two years while amphetamine pills seized this year decreased by a million and heroin by 1.5 kilograms, said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, during a press conference Tuesday at Security Officers Club in Riyadh. He said that the Directorate of Anti-Narcotics and pertinent authorities will be tasked with the mission to find out the reasons behind this decrease. He said perhaps the decrease happened because the demand for heroin and drugs has gone down or because of the pre-emptive strikes carried out by security agencies.Some people make advantage of the political situation in some countries and smuggle drugs through the borders of these countries, he said, lauding the security cooperation between Saudi authorities and some countries such as Turkey and Jordan. Commenting on drug gangs targeting Saudi students, the spokesman said: “We've pinned high hopes on our students abroad and we want them to return to their homeland and benefit their country." Security authorities found that 90% of narcotic pills come from the northern borders of the Kingdom while hashish and heroin are smuggled through southern and eastern borders, he noted. The countries whose borders are used to smuggle drugs into the Kingdom cannot be blamed for targeting the Kingdom. “We know that hashish doesn't grow in Yemen but gangs use the Yemeni coasts to smuggle drugs." He said the only way to find the real persons behind smuggling attempts is to combat all parties inside and outside the Kingdom.Regarding cases of drug smuggling inside prisons, he said these are few. Some visitors try to smuggle a small quantity of drugs and abuse the services provided for prisoners. “Such things might happen sometimes." He said that three women were involved in drug dealing cases. But this does not mean that many women are being used and taken advantage of. In fact, more men are used by gangs than women. Women are involved in these cases to mislead authorities. He lauded the efforts of the Border Guard who foiled an attempt to smuggle 2.5 tons of hashish.
