RIYADH, Nov 8: Authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested 3,000 people who tried to cross clandestinely from Iraq smuggling weapons and drugs, a report carried in the Saudi daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat said on Saturday.

The Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, quoted Washington-based “well-informed sources” that the smugglers were arrested over the past three months.

They said the infiltrators were smuggling drugs and weapons on a scale never witnessed before.

Earlier, US authorities had complained that extremists from Saudi Arabia were travelling to Iraq to wage a jihad against the US occupying forces in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.

The Saudi vehemently denied the accusation, saying no one was crossing over to Iraq and in case any such movement was taking place, the US could prevent it from happening by placing its forces on the common border.