AL-AHSA: Locust swarms in Al-Ahsa are under control after teams from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture tracked their arrival and exterminated them, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday. The insects arrived from nearby countries, which have struggled to limit the spread of the vast swarms. The director general of the ministry’s office in Al-Ahsa, Ibrahim Al-Khalil, said the teams were ready to deal with the locusts and had secured all the equipment, pesticides and means to exterminate them in all their phases. He added that the farms in Al-Ahsa did not experience any significant damage. Locust swarms were monitored since they first entered Al-Ahsa, tracked until they settled and later exterminated. Control operations continue in the eastern city. Al-Khalil called on Al-Ahsa residents to notify authorities as soon as they saw locust swarms. The Kingdom has been plagued by locusts this year, with the insects arriving from nearby countries. Saudi authorities have doubled the daily aerial sprayings to combat the swarms. Red locusts can be ferocious and eat crops. Locusts tend to multiply during rains and erratic weather, especially in desert and high-humidity areas. There are seven countries that are infamous for having large swarms of locusts: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.