Saudi authorities said on Sunday that they had seized more than 5mn amphetamine tablets and arrested 11 people in one of the kingdom's largest drug busts.

The suspects - nine Saudis and two Sudanese citizens - were arrested in Riyadh as an illegal deal was being completed, state news agency SPA quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying.

Three grams of heroin, a machine gun and a pistol were also seized from the suspects, the spokesman said without elaborating.

Drug smuggling appears to be on the rise in the kingdom despite a crackdown by the authorities.

The interior ministry announced in November that it had seized a total of 22.4mn amphetamine tablets, 28.8 tonnes of cannabis and 26.2 kilograms of heroin in the last Islamic calendar year, which ends in mid-October.

Drug smuggling is punishable by death in the kingdom.

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