422,600 infiltrators nabbed

RIYADH, 10 November 2002 — Saudi border guards arrested some 422,600 infiltrators, mainly from Yemen, in the year ending August 2002, the force’s director said yesterday. The guards also arrested 3,566 smugglers and confiscated 1,600 kilos (3,520 pounds) of hashish, 451,000 pills and some 13,870 bottles of liquor, Lt.Gen. Talal Angawi told Okaz newspaper. Angawi said border guards also seized 3.38 million kilos (7.4 million pounds) of qat, a narcotic. A majority of the infiltrators are believed to have entered the country’s southwestern provinces from Yemen. Angawi said Saudi Arabia and Yemen have completed 50 percent of border demarcation on the ground.