Three held for khat smuggling bid

A Coast Guard patrol seized a boat and arrested three persons of an Arab nationality who were on board for attempting to smuggle boxes of khat into the Sultanate, an official with Royal Oman Police said. The Coast Guard personnel chased the boat and eventually managed to seize it south-west of Ras Madraka. The defendants and the drugs were handed over to the Directorate of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances in Dhofar Governorate.