Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority (ZATCA) at Al-Haditha and King Khalid International Airport has thwarted 4 attempts to smuggle 756,212 narcotic pills that were found hidden in a shipment that arrived in the kingdom. The authority explained that several shipments were subject to customs procedures and during the inspection process a large number of narcotics were found hidden in different ways, as it revealed that in the first attempt 171,792 pills were found hidden in a shipment of "furniture", arrived through King Khalid International Airport. ZATCA was also able to thwart another attempt to smuggle 60,500 pills which were found hidden in a vehicle loaded on one of the trucks coming through Al-Haditha port, in addition to foiling another attempt of smuggling 247,670 pills, which were hidden in separate parts of one of the incoming trucks. In the fourth case, ZATCA thwarted an attempt to smuggle 276,250 narcotic pills, which were found hidden in the same previous smuggling manner. The authority explained that after coordinating with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control, to ensure the arrest of the involved culprits inside the Kingdom, three persons who were supposed to receive the shipment were arrested. The Authority reiterated that it will continue to tighten customs control over the Kingdom's imports and exports through all its customs outlets, and will confront any smugglers' attempts, to achieve one of its most important tasks represented in the security and protection of society from these criminal acts. The Authority has called on everyone to contribute to combating smuggling to protect society and the national economy by reaching out to the designated number for security reports (1910) or via (e-mail: [email protected]) or the international number (00966114208417), where the Authority, through these channels, receives reports related to smuggling crimes and violations of the provisions of the unified customs system, in strict confidentiality, with a financial reward given to the whistleblower if the information is correct.
