The ban effective from April 25 also covers consignments transit through Saudi territories, the Saudi Interior Ministry said, reports Asian Lite News
Saudi Arabia has banned imports of Lebanese fruit and vegetable from entering or transiting via the Kingdom as of 9 a.m. on Sunday in a bid to prevent drug trafficking, according to reports.
The Kingdom has noticed an increase in drug smugglers in Lebanon targeting Saudi Arabia, the Arab News quoted Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as reporting on Friday.
Lebanese products are being used to smuggle drugs into the Kingdom’s territory, either through consignments intended for Saudi markets or those that transit through the Kingdom on their way to neighboring countries. The most common products used to smuggle the drugs were fruit and vegetables, SPA said.
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The ban will last until Lebanese authorities provide guarantees that they will take the necessary measures to stop systematic drug smuggling operations.
The Ministry of Interior will continue to follow up and monitor consignments of other products coming from Lebanon to see whether similar measures needed to be taken against them.
Meanwhile, Saudi customs at Jeddah Islamic Port foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 5.3 million Captagon pills hidden “artistically” in a consignment of pomegranates that came from Lebanon.
In a statement, Mohammed bin Ali Al-Naim, Undersecretary of the Customs Authority for Security Affairs, said the shipment, upon its arrival at the port, the Saudi Customs managed to discover the amount of (5,383,400) Captagon pills hidden in a professional manner inside a consignment of “pomegranate”.
The intended recipient of the pomegranate consignment was arrested and the drugs were seized, SPA reported on Friday.
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