JEDDAH: Customs officers at the Al-Ahsa airport in Saudi Arabia have thwarted an attempt to smuggle around 110,000 Captagon pills found hidden in the luggage of a passenger who was traveling to the Kingdom.
“During the inspection procedures of the passenger’s luggage, the customs officers were able to find the Captagon pills that were hidden inside boxes and were carefully placed in hidden areas inside a wooden table,” said Othman Al-Ghamdi, director general of customs at Al-Ahsa International Airport.
In the past two weeks, Saudi customs officers have managed to prevent the smuggling of more than half a ton of hashish, as well as arresting 17 smugglers in various operations.
Forces in southern Saudi Arabia have foiled many smugglers from implementing their plans, said Saher bin Mohammed Al-Harbi, official spokesperson of the Border Guards.
He added that many people have been arrested coming to Saudi Arabia from Yemen through the borders at Jazan and Najran, explaining that the authorities were very firm in dealing with the issue.
As a result of a recent campaign, Al-Harbi said authorities have arrested 11 Ethiopians, two Somalis, two Saudis and one Yemeni for smuggling-related charges, with a total of around 544 kilograms of narcotics found. The suspects were transferred to the relevant authorities so that legal procedures against them can continue.
17 smugglers arrested, half ton of hashish seized in Saudi drug busts
17 smugglers arrested, half ton of hashish seized in Saudi drug busts
KSrelief transfers Gaza girl to Jordan for cancer treatment
- Roza Al-Dreimli in Jordan because Israel destroyed Gaza hospitals
- Under assessment, monitoring at the King Hussein Cancer Center
AMMAN: A cancer-stricken Palestinian girl from Gaza is now undergoing clinical observation prior to treatment at a specialist hospital in Jordan, thanks to Saudi Arabia’s aid agency KSrelief.
Roza Al-Dreimli was transported to Amman from the Gaza Strip through the initiative of KSrelief, as a part of Saudi Arabia’s continued medical support for Palestinians, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday.
Al-Dreimli was prioritized because assessments indicated the need for advanced treatment of cancerous cells at the base of her brain. She is at the King Hussein Cancer Center, and being treated by a team of pediatricians.
She is currently undergoing “intensive clinical monitoring” to “ensure control of the condition, and prevent any potential neurological or visual complications resulting from the tumor’s location,” the SPA reported.
Al-Dreimli’s family expressed profound gratitude for KSrelief’s swift intervention, and hoped the specialized care would ensure a full recovery.
Such specialized care is currently unavailable in the Gaza Strip because of Israel’s alleged genocidal destruction of hospitals and killing of medical workers since Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel has systematically destroyed homes and commercial buildings and infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave, killing over 70,000 Palestinians, many of them unarmed men, women and children, and injuring more than 170,000.
Tel Aviv has stated that its actions were in retaliation to a raid by Hamas of Israeli border villages, during which the militant group reportedly killed more than 1,200 people and took 254 hostages.
