RIYADH: Saudi aiuthorities on Thursday beheaded a convicted Pakistani drug smuggler, bringing to 29 the number of executions in the first six weeks of the year.

Babir Hussein Mohammed Ishaq was found guilty of transporting heroin which he had ingested, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

His case brings to 29 the number of Saudis and foreigners executed in the kingdom this year, according to an AFP tally. During the last three months of 2014, some 13 Pakistanis were executed in the kingdom for drug trafficking.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom’s Islamic sharia law.