Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Anti-Narcotics Department at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh arrested a group of drug traffickers and seized a large container with over a ton of Cannabis, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned.

Authorities were alerted about the Cannabis shipment, which had recently arrived from the city of Dammam in the Eastern Province after receiving an anonymous &#34tip off&#34. The source revealed to the Anti-Narcotics Department that a group of individuals would be arriving at King Khaled International Airport with a very large shipment of Cannabis. The Drug traffickers had planed on storing the drugs in a safe location before distributing the illegal substance all across the Kingdom.

Asharq Al-Awsat has also learned that the drug traffickers were Pakistani in origin, and had smuggled the drugs from Pakistan to the kingdom by way of the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier this month a Saudi official told Asharq Al-Awsat that that drug smuggling, especially cannabis, from Iraq into Saudi Arabia has increased and that the Drug trade was financing militants fighting the Iraqi and multinational armies and facilitating the illegal entry of men into the country. It also supports al Qaeda’s terrorist activities inside the Kingdom.