RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has arrested 11 Pakistanis and Iranians allegedly involved in smuggling hashish from Iran into the kingdom, the interior ministry said on Friday, a charge that carries the death sentence.

Saudi security services “foiled an attempt to smuggle half a tonne (1,102 pounds) of hashish through the kingdom’s eastern coasts,” the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

“The narcotic was seized and 11 people involved in its smuggling were arrested -- six Pakistanis and five Iranians.”

“Preliminary investigations have shown that those arrested are part of a criminal network involved in drug trafficking from Iranian territories into the kingdom and Gulf Cooperation Council states,” it added.

The group was arrested while they were “handing over the drugs” in Saudi Arabia’s territorial waters, it said.

The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom imposes the death penalty on people convicted of drug trafficking.

Earlier on Friday, a Saudi national was reportedly beheaded after being convicted of smuggling over one million “banned narcotic pills” into the country.