A court in the Red Sea region of Egypt sentenced 10 defendants to death on Sunday, including an Iranian, 7 Pakistanis, and 2 Egyptians, in a case involving the import and smuggling of a large quantity of heroin through the territorial waters of the Red Sea.
The General Administration for Drug Control, in coordination with the relevant security agencies, successfully thwarted the entry of the largest quantity of heroin into Egypt via the Red Sea in the city of Safaga in April 2018. The incident began when security authorities received information regarding a criminal gang's intention to bring large shipments using one of the commercial ships flying the Iranian flag to transport the cargo across the Red Sea.
The forces were able to monitor and identify the members of the gang, which included 2 Egyptians and 7 others holding Pakistani and Iranian nationalities. Following legal procedures, the ship was targeted while it was in the territorial waters of the Red Sea, where naval forces managed to take control of it and its crew. Inspection operations revealed a large quantity of narcotics concealed inside a secret compartment specially prepared in the ship's hull for this purpose.
The seized items included 1,900 large packages of raw heroin weighing 2 tons and 147 kilograms, 99 packages of raw methamphetamine weighing 99 kilograms, and cash amounts totaling 305,000 Iranian rials, 3,375 Pakistani rupees, and 171 US dollars, along with 4 mobile phones. It is noteworthy that in December 2016, Egyptian authorities successfully intercepted another Iranian ship loaded with drugs on its way to Egypt via the Red Sea.
