Saudi Arabia is quietly selling alcohol to wealthy foreign residents despite placing a ban on its sales for more than 70 years.
One of the liquor stores in Riyadh had been selling whiskey and champagne to non-Muslim foreigners who hold an expanded “premium residency”, the New York Times report.
The premium residency is a limited status generally conferred on wealthy or highly educated foreigners who work for government-owned entities or strategic sectors.
Although no public announcement has been made about a change in the conservative Islamic kingdom’s alcohol policy, the shoppers who emerged from the store described a frenzied scene of eager new buyers crowding the aisles, purchasing thousands of dollars’ worth of booze.
The loosening of entry procedures coincided with a new dual-pricing system. Diplomats were charged one set of marked-up prices, and premium residents paid an even higher set, several of the customers said.
Though it is unclear who owns the store, several details about how it operates suggest the government is involved.
Once infamous for its religious police, strict dress code, and ban on women driving, Saudi Arabia now hosts mixed-gender raves, and Saudi women are free to drive, work, and travel abroad as they please.
The Saudi government officially outlawed alcohol in the 1950s.
Branded alcohol often entered the informal market through embassies, which were able to import an unlimited supply of alcohol in diplomatic shipments until the government ended that system in January 2024.
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