MANAMA, 10 April 2004 — Some 600 kg of hashish on its way to Saudi Arabia was seized by Bahraini and Saudi authorities over the last few days in separate incidents.
Five Bahrainis were arrested, and Saudi police are searching for a Saudi suspect in connection with the seizure of hashish in two separate operations on Wednesday and Thursday.
Bahraini authorities arrested yesterday two Bahrainis on a boat heading to eastern Saudi Arabia.
The two were attempting to ship about 500 kg of hashish to a Saudi dealer.
The Bahraini Coast Guard stopped the boat in Bahrain’s waters and confiscated seven large bags where the drugs — believed to have arrived into Bahrain from Iran — were hidden.
The public prosecutor office issued a warrant for a Saudi suspect who had set up a deal with the two to smuggle the drugs into Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday Bahraini officials seized around 130 kg of hashish heading to Saudi Arabia. Saudi and Bahraini Coast Guard boats chased a suspicious boat with three Bahrainis on board as it was heading to the eastern Saudi coast.
The boat that was cornered by a Bahraini police helicopter near a factory off the coast of Dammam, where the suspects threw six large blue barrels containing the hashish into the water. Police retrieved three out of the six barrels.
