The Maritime Customs Department has foiled an attempt to smuggle a large amount of hashish at Ruwais Port, the General Authority of Customs (GAC) said on Sunday.

According to information available on the GAC's social media channels, Customs officials seized 45.5kg of the contraband at Ruwais Port where it was found hidden inside the spare tyre of a refrigerated vehicle.

The hashish was packed in 45 plastic bags.

Last week, the General Directorate of Drug Enforcement at the Ministry of Interior seized nearly 40kg of banned narcotic substances and arrested three persons from the Asian community in that connection. The haul included 29kg of hashish and 10.2kg of methamphetamine.

In August, GAC officials had seized 'tambaku' (a kind of chewing tobacco) weighing 2,152kg at Hamad Port. The seized 'tambaku' was recovered from a sugar shipment.

Before that, in July, the GAC had foiled attempts to smuggle illicit drugs into Qatar as four packs of crystal meth weighing 734gm were seized by the Cargo customs at Hamad International Airport.