A Jordanian man was executed Friday for drug trafficking, the Interior Ministry announced.

Mohammed Abu Samak was arrested "as he was smuggling a large amount of banned amphetamine pills," said an Interior Ministry statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

His beheading in the northern Tabuk Province brought the number of executions in the Kingdom this year to 68, according to an AFP tally prepared on the basis of Interior Ministry announcements.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are punishable by death under the Kingdom's laws.