JEDDAH, 24 February 2003 — Saudi Arabia has nabbed the Kingdom’s biggest drug smuggler and seized 1,125 kilograms of hashish he was trying to bring into the Kingdom.

Several other drug dealers were arrested in connection with the seizure, and a statement issued by the director of the anti-drug department disclosed that all were Saudis.

Special security forces have started investigating the smugglers and their associates and the circumstances surrounding their arrest so they can all be handed over to the Shariah court for trial.

The Kingdom imposes capital punishment for drug smuggling and dealing.

The anti-drug squad said that its officers arrested the Saudis on Jan. 14 while they were receiving a large quantity of drugs. It is not clear why news of the arrests was not announced earlier.

“An unspecified number of people were later arrested in connection with the drug ring,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the director as saying, without giving details of where the arrests took place.

The authorities confiscated large amounts of money, firearms, ammunition, bonds and other financial documents while making the arrests. The director of the anti-drug squad said his agency had received information from a foreign source about the smuggler’s plans to bring a large quantity of drugs into the Kingdom with the support of a foreign financial backer.

“Soon after receiving the information, the agency worked out a strategy for arresting the ring leader and his associates,” the statement said. “They were arrested when they arrived at a warehouse which had been prepared to store the drugs.”

The agency’s drug enforcement force then raided the leading dealer’s house and arrested his six associates, who were waiting for him to return home so that they could divide the drugs between themselves.

“Police also confiscated 82.5 kilograms of hashish from inside the car of one of the associates,” the statement added.

According to an official report, the number of drug smugglers, dealers and users in the Kingdom has increased sharply from 4,279 in 1986 to 17,199 in 2001.