RIYADH: Saudi authorities said on Sunday that they had seized more than five million amphetamine tablets and arrested 11 people in one of the kingdom’s largest drug busts.

The suspects — nine Saudis and two Sudanese citizens — were arrested in Riyadh as an illegal deal was being completed, state news agency SPA quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying.

Three grams of heroin, a machine gun and a pistol were also seized from the suspects, the spokesman said without elaborating.

Drug smuggling appears to be on the rise in the country despite a crackdown by the authorities.

The interior ministry announced in November that it had seized a total of 22.4 million amphetamine tablets, 28.8 tons of cannabis and 26.2 kilograms of heroin in the last Islamic calendar year.

Drug smuggling is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2015