Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Lebanon Walid Al-Bukhari has revealed new figures about recent drug-smuggling operations from Lebanon into Saudi Arabia.
“The total number of narcotic substances seized from Lebanon from the beginning of 2020 until April 2021 has amounted to 57,184,900 pills,” Al-Bukhari stated in a tweet on Tuesday, bearing the hashtag #The_war_on_drugs.
The diplomat attached to his tweet an image detailing the drug shipments thwarted by the Saudi authorities in the said period.
The list consists entirely of fruit and vegetable consignments that were used to conceal narcotic pills, as follows:
- 5,383,400 pills concealed in a pomegranate shipment
- 5,580,000 pills concealed in a grape shipment
- 20,190,500 pills concealed in a grape shipment
- 4,335,000 pills concealed in an apple shipment
- 6,480,000 pills concealed in a potato shipment
- 15,216,000 pills concealed in a grape shipment
- 2,466,563 pills concealed in a pomegranate shipment
The most recent pomegranate shipment prompted Saudi Arabia to completely ban the import of produce from Lebanon.
As a result of this decision, around 1,000 tonnes of Lebanese produce that were meant to be exported to Saudi Arabia are now stuck in Lebanon.
Ambassador Al-Bukhari recently revealed that the Saudi authorities had seized over 600 million narcotic pills coming from Lebanon over the past 6 years.
