Nearly quarter of billion Saudi riyals smuggled from Hadramout abroad

HADRAMOUT, Dec. 07 (YPA) – About a quarter of a billion Saudi riyals were smuggled out of Yemen last November from the Central Bank in Hadramout province, informed sources said on Wednesday.

Member of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), Fadi Baoum, admitted in a post on the “X” platform that 240 million Saudi riyals, equivalent to $64 million, had been smuggled from the Central Bank in Hadramout via Al-Rayyan Airport, which is under the control of US and Emirati forces, in the city of Mukalla, the center of the province.

Baoum stated that the money smuggled out of Yemen within one month was disbursed under the guidance of the bank governor who was appointed by the Saudi-led coalition in Aden, Ahmed Al-Maqbi, wondering who benefited from that.

He explained that the smuggling of money was carried out in payments, as the first payment was 80 million Saudi riyals on the 1st of November, followed by the withdrawal of 50 million Saudi riyals on the 8th of the same month, while 35 million Saudi riyals were withdrawn on the 16th of November and 20 million Saudi riyals were withdrawn on the 22nd of November, and the last of which was 55 million Saudi riyals on December 2.

The smuggling operation came at a time when the US dollar and the Saudi riyal witnessed an increase against the Yemeni riyal in Aden and the rest of the areas under the control of the coalition.

YPA