A Pakistani convicted of drug smuggling was executed Friday.

Shirin Khan Abbas Khan was beheaded in Riyadh Province after being found guilty of smuggling heroin into the Kingdom by swallowing balloons containing the drug,

the Interior Ministry announced.

The latest beheading brought the number of executions in the Kingdom this year to 73.

The Arabian Gulf has become an increasingly important market for illicit drugs in recent years, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says.

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