RIYADH: A man convicted of smuggling heroin became Thursday the seventh Pakistani beheaded over the past month in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking.

The execution of Niyaz Mohammed Ghulam Mohammed was carried out in Riyadh after he was “tried and found guilty of attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

“Pakistani Smuggler Niaz Mohammad Ghulam Mohammad was executed in Kharj Governorate, Riyadh Region, today because he tried to smuggle a large quantity of heroin inside his intestines into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Saudi Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

The latest case brings to 67 the number of foreigners and Saudis executed for crimes this year, despite international concerns.

The Saudi interior ministry says the government is battling narcotics “because of their great harm to individuals and society.”

Also read: UN asks Saudi Arabia to impose moratorium on death penalty

In September, an independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are also punishable by death under the kingdom’s strict Sharia laws.