One Pakistani national, two Egyptians executed in Saudi for smuggling drugs

A Pakistani national and two Egyptians have been executed in Saudi Arabia for smuggling drugs, the kingdom’s ministry of Interior said on Tuesday.

Nizar Ahmad Qall Ahmad, a Pakistani national was executed in the Makkah area of Jeddah for smuggling heroin, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Two Egyptian nationals, Ataiwi Faraj Attia Suleiman and Subhi Odeh were also executed in Tabuk for smuggling a large quantity of banned amphetamine pills, hashish and narcotic opium by sea, the SPA reported.

The ministry said that all the accused were arrested after an investigation and later convicted by the court with the sentence endorsed by the appeal and supreme courts. A royal order was issued to execute the sentences.

It reiterated that the government is keen on “combating narcotics due to their harm to individuals and the society, warning anyone who tries to commit such actions to be punished according to the Islamic Sharia law”.

The kingdom’s laws on drug smuggling are among the strictest in the world and it has carried out multiple executions of people convicted of the crime.

Three Pakistani nationals were executed in October for smuggling heroin including one in Jeddah and another in Saudi Arabia’s eastern region.

In July, two Pakistani nationals and a Lebanese national were executed in the kingdom, while a Nigerian national was executed in Madinah in June for smuggling cocaine in his intestines.

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