RIYADH: The Ministry of Interior said Sunday that anti-narcotics operations during the first quarter of the current year led to the arrest of 478 persons and the seizure of drugs with a market value of over SR1.4 billion. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the ministry, said that 241 of the 478 detained were Saudis and the remaining 237 were made up of 23 different nationalities. The drugs haul, with its total market value of SR1,411,903,521, consisted of over 13 million amphetamine pills, six tons of hashish, 88 tons qat, 18 kilograms of pure heroin and four kilograms of heroin described as ready for use. Most of the drugs were seized in anti-smuggling operations that prevented them reaching the Kingdom's markets, while further quantities of the same materials were seized from dealers and users. Al-Turki said that four servicemen lost their lives and another 28 were injured during armed confrontations in anti-narcotics operations over the same period. Three smugglers were also killed and the same number injured.
