Pakistan's anti-narcotics authorities Saturday arrested eight persons for smuggling narcotics to Saudi Arabia in a flight of pilgrims, officials said.
Six persons were offloaded from a Jeddah-bound plane of Pakistan International Airlines in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said Brigadier Muhammad Amir Khan, Commandant off Anti- Narcotics Force (ANF), Xinhua reported.
Two others were arrested from a camp for pilgrims in Peshawar, Khan told reporters.
The ANP officials said that the six arrested smugglers had consumed heroin-filled capsules and they were taken to a hospital to recover the capsules.
A woman was among the arrested, Khan said, adding that all were being questioned for their links with international smugglers. He said they might have been used by a gang of world smugglers.
Those arrested were Pakistanis and six belonged to central Punjab and two from northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said.
The ANF chief said the authorities had received information that some people, in the guess of pilgrims, would smuggle narcotics to Saudi Arabia from Peshawar.
The anti-narcotics officials were put on high alert at Peshawar international airport and Hajj Complex where pilgrims stayed for days before proceeding to Saudi Arabia.
Khan said the ANP authorities raided the Hajj Complex and arrested two persons on Saturday morning. Six other persons were later offloaded from the Jeddah-bound flight on their information, he said.
Pakistani authorities regularly issue warning to passengers traveling abroad to avoid smuggling narcotics as the crime carries death penalty.
Dozens of Pakistanis had been arrested in Saudi Arabia in the past on the charges of drug smuggling and several had been beheaded.