Among the many painful real-life stories about the smuggling routes across the Yemeni-Saudi border, comes the story of 17-year-old Nasser - a pseudonym in order to preserve his privacy - the son of a school teacher in his village. After the family's living circumstances worsened, Nasser was forced to help his father with living expenses and to prove himself as a good boy. But he chose a hazardous business, which is smuggling Qat through the "Al-Raqw" area in the Sa'ada governorate to Saudi Arabia.
The mountainous town of Raqw belongs to the Munabbih District in the far west of Sa'ada Governorate, and on the borders of Yemen and Saudi Arabia; And because there are many people who work as smugglers from the village of Nasser, he joined them in search of livelihood, despite the objection of his mother and father.
One day, Nasser went to receive a money transfer of the amount of 15,000 riyals, which his uncle sent to his father as part of the family support in times of hardship. Nasser who wants to be the supportive member of the family, received the transfer amount and took the first car until he reached the "Al-Raqw" market. Upon his arrival, he prepared himself to be the first to ascend the mountain of death; he was a young man full of vitality and determination to engage in dangerous tasks. He wanted to earn fast income so that he could make up for the transferred amount he had taken on his father without delay. He took the Qat package that he was assigned to deliver, hoping that he would return and receive his wages as soon as possible. Nasser then climbed the mountain with his companions towards the cross-border road. In the middle of the rugged road, they were suddenly bombarded by the Saudi border guards, and Nasser was one of the victims whose bodies were turned to pieces. This is how he left us for the other world the first time along with about 5 others who lost their lives.
The City of Death
Hundreds of Yemeni workers are venturing into smuggling Qat to Saudi Arabia, crossing the border areas in order to make a living, but what livelihood can be gained from smuggling Qat? and what hope do they wish for on the road to death! Most of them die as a result of the bombing and fire of the border guards.
The death toll in Al-Mahweet governorate reached 17 people who tried to illegally cross the Saudi borders during July and August, according to a resident of the area, while the number doubled in Sa'ada governorate given that it is a border with KSA.
Nima (a pseudonym), a mother of one of the workers on the road to death, said that her son (28 years old) - a father of three children, has been smuggling Qat for about a year and a half: Every day there is news of murders and I am afraid that I may receive the same sad news about my son death.
Hundreds of workers in the smuggling of Qat across the border know the extent of the risk that is lurking in their lives. (S. A), in his interview with "Khuyut" spoke about this dangerous career which he described as is an arduous and strenuous process; Saying: "We walk on foot for hours to deliver the shipment of Qat which consists of several bundles." He didn’t not mention the number of Qat packets carried by each person, but he talked about the roughness of the risky road across the mountains and what awaits them on the way back and forth. Smugglers often move under the darkness of night in order to avoid the endoscopes and bullets of the Saudi border guards" (S A) remembers the story of the latest victim of group who was one of his relatives whose remains of his body fly in the air as a result of the bombing in one of the mountainous roads. No one was able to approach the dead body because of the continued bombing and snipers' fire; "I waited until the morning and went up the mountain to collect the remains of my relative, body and buried it there." Stressing that there is no day passed without hearing about the killing of one or more on the path of smuggling, and that one of smugglers was killed by a sniper bullet in mid -January 2022, while he was returning from the delivery of the Qat shipment, and his colleagues took him to his hometown where he was buried there."
According to workers in the smuggling of Qat through the town of "Raqw", there is no month without murders in dozens, including boys at the age of fifteen. Hundreds of poor people in different age groups are pushed by difficult life conditions towards the path of death; Where anyone who succeeds in his mission shall receive between 300-400 SAR in one trip, and there are some who receive around 600 SAR riyals in the event that the quantity of Qat he carried was bigger.
(XY) Another worker spoke to "Khuyut" about the working conditions in the smuggling of Qat across the border. He says that the smuggling sometimes stops in the city of Raqw as a result of the intensity of the bombing and the intensification of border guards, noting that the suspension period sometimes reaches a month. Smuggling workers spend this retro in the rural city market, where the popular currency in it is the Saudi riyal and not Yemeni riyal, while (XY.) said that the mineral water bottle costs about 500 Yemeni riyals, which is five times its actual price.
The ghost of death does not leave female relatives
Na'ama (a pseudonym), a mother of one of the workers on the path of death, said that her son (28 years old)- the father of three children, has been working in the smuggling of Qat for about a year and a half. In her interview with "Khuyut", she stated that: "I pray to God to save my son who is attached to work there, because I hear the news of the killings of smugglers and I am afraid that the news will come to me one day that my son was shot."
Another wife of a smuggling worker through the town of Al-Raqw also reported to Khuyut that her husband has been working in Qat smuggling for three years. She said that": "My husband used to have a motorcycle that he works on, but he wasn’t satisfied with that low income job. Therefore, he decided to go to" Raqw "despite our opposition to his determination of going there as many of my relatives and people of my village have lost their lives in this risky job, and some of them were buried there". She concluded.
Similarly, the sister of one of the workers who was killed on the same area told Khuyut that: "My brother has been killed in the past months. He was 15 years old, and it was the first time that he goes to Raqw."
Road gangs risk
On the other hand, death may come to the Qat smugglers by the road bandits who ambush for smugglers waiting for the returnees from the delivery of Qat shipments while they come down from the mountain. Many looting members of the gang loot their money and kill them in the ugliest way. Some of these gangs are African immigrants. However, when the risks and interruptions increased along with the intensification of the shelling and sniping by the Saudi border guards, the wages of the smuggler for each smuggling process reached nearly 2000 Saudi riyals, while the search for adventurers and ready to die is ongoing!
