Saudi authorities foil weapons smuggling bid


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Saturday January 20, 2007

Riyadh/Cairo- Saudi border guards on the frontier with Yemen have foiled a bid to smuggle arms including dynamite, hand grenades and live ammunition into the country, according to a newspaper report published Saturday. State-owned Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that the smugglers were armed and that border guards had exchanged fire with them.

According to police chief Saad al-Shahrani, the smugglers who were trying to cross into Saudi Arabia were "held back from crossing the border, and so returned to where they came from."

None of the smugglers were arrested and their nationalities were not clear.

Officials however said they seized a large weapons cache containing more than 50 sticks of dynamite, 50 fuses, 20 hand grenades and Kalashnikov ammunition.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency