Four Egyptian fishermen have been detained "in Saudi territorial waters" on suspicion of involvement in narcotics smuggling, Egypt's assistant foreign minister said on Tuesday.
The foreign ministry said the fishermen are also accused of drug possession, in a statement published on its official page, citing the assistant minister for consular affairs.
Aswat Masriya previously spoke to the brother of one of the detained fishermen, who said they were subjected to "torture" by Saudi authorities to force them to sign a confession stating that they are smuggling drugs.
Egypt's foreign ministry said it's following up on the case of the fishermen detained but didn't provide any details related to the fishermen's current whereabouts.
Scores of Egyptians have been detained, and later released, in Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region for illegally crossing over into territorial waters to fish.
