Saudi Arabia beheads Pakistani for drug trafficking

A Pakistani convicted of smuggling heroin and two local men who robbed a bank and murdered a foreigner were beheaded in Saudi Arabia today, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Pakistani Khanzadah Abdul Qayoum, had hidden the drugs “inside his body,” presumably having wrapped the heroin in plastic and swallowed it, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the news agency. He was beheaded in Riyadh.

The two executed Saudis, Salamah Bin Marzouk and Samir Bin Jazaa, had been convicted of robbing a bank in Mecca and then killing an Egyptian, whom they mugged and buried in the desert, the report said.

The Interior Ministry said the two men had committed other robberies, posed as security guards and taken alcohol and drugs. They were beheaded in Medina.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery can be executed.

The executions are carried out with a sword and in public as a deterrent to others.