New year, same story: Another Pakistani drug mule beheaded in Saudi Arabia

Mohammad Shahbal of Pakistan was beheaded for smuggling heroin. The drugs were found in capsules he had swallowed

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a Pakistani man convicted of drug smuggling. A Saudi national was also executed for murder, the interior ministry said.

Their executions bring to six the number of people beheaded since the turn of the new year in the conservative kingdom.

Mohammad Shahbal of Pakistan was beheaded for smuggling heroin into the country. The drugs were found in capsules he had swallowed.

Awida Utaibi was executed after a court found him guilty of murdering a relative, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

In 2014, Saudi Arabia had executed 87 people, at least 13 of these were Pakistanis. In comparison, 78 people were executed in 2013, according to an AFP tally.

According to the Ansar Burney Trust, as many as 50 Pakistanis are facing execution in Saudi Arabia on charges of drug smuggling.