JEDDAH, 13 April 2006 — The Department for Combating Drugs in Madinah foiled 1,884 attempts of drug trafficking over the past Hijra year (February 2005 to January 2006).
The figures appeared in a report submitted by the department headed by Brig. Saleh ibn Yusuf Al-Hurr to Madinah Governor Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Majed, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
The report said 2,465 persons were arrested on various charges of violating drug regulations, such as illegal possession, selling or smuggling in the contraband. It was also noted that over the period there was a 25-percent increase in the number of the department’s successful operations, compared to the previous year when the number of cases recorded were 1,477, the report said.
It also gave a breakdown for each region. The Madinah branch of the department topped the list with 1,155 cases and the arrest of 1,592 smugglers followed by Yanbu branch with 281 cases and 362 arrests.
The strategy followed by the department in the Madinah branch was to strike at the root of the crime. It caught the big sharks in the forbidden trade and thus dried up the main supply lines. Individual addicts and petty peddlers were used as leads to reach the smugglers and bulk distributors.
