RIYADH, March 2: Saudi Arabia has arrested 11 Pakistanis and Iranians for allegedly smuggling hashish from Iran into the kingdom, the interior ministry said on Friday, a charge that carries the death sentence.

Saudi security services “foiled an attempt to smuggle half a ton of hashish through the kingdom’s eastern coasts,” the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

“The narcotic was seized and 11 people involved in its smuggling were arrested — six Pakistanis and five Iranians.”

“Preliminary investigations have shown that those arrested are part of a criminal network involved in  drug trafficking fromIranian territories into the kingdom and Gulf Cooperation Council states,” it added.

The men were arrested while they were “handing over the drugs” in Saudi Arabia’s territorial waters, it said.

Earlier on Friday, a Saudi national was reportedly beheaded after being convicted of smuggling over one million ‘banned narcotic pills’ into the country.—AFP