RIYADH- Saudi Arabia today beheaded a Pakistani for heroin smuggling, the 12th man from Pakistan to be executed in the kingdom for drug trafficking since October.

The sentence against Ismail Khan Sayed was carried out in Eastern Province after his conviction for smuggling a large amount of heroin, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest execution tolls. Saudi authorities seized huge quantity of raw heroin during the Islamic calendar year that ended in October, according to the Interior Ministry.

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RIYADH - Saudi Arabian police have arrested six people and seized illegal drugs worth SR1 billion ($267 million) that were being smuggled into the country from neighboring Bahrain, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

Spokesman Major General Mansour Turki said five Saudi citizens and one Bahraini had been detained in the operation after police uncovered 22.6 million amphetamine pills hidden inside coils of barbed wire and rolls of plastic.

An investigation into the seizure of the drugs turned up a connection to an international drug smuggling ring led by a Syrian national, Turki told the Saudi Press Agency.

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