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Dubai Police play major anti-drug role

Sixteen of these cases were in Asian countries, nine in Africa and one in Australia. The operations resulted in the seizure of 12.7kg of heroin, 19.6kg of cocaine, 30.49kg of narcotic crystal and 14kg of opium.

In all, the department cooperated with 30 countries in combating drugs and received letters of appreciation from 26 of them, said Major-General Abdul Jalil Mehdi, director of the department.

For instance, the department received through the Ministry of Interior in the last week of January a letter of appreciation from the Nigerian authorities for the valuable information that led to the arrest of an African in Lagos with more than 8kg of heroin. The contraband was hidden in the bottom of his bag in a professional manner and was not easy to detect if not for the cooperation of the Dubai Police.

Also, it received a letter from the liaison officer of the American Consulate in mid-December last year, expressing appreciation for its role in combating drugs and passing on valuable information to an international anti-drug agency resulting in the arrest of an African woman, called K.I. who was on her way from an Asian county to Harare, at the in Ethiopian airport with 71 heroin capsules concealed in her stomach.

At the same time, the Dubai Police also benefited from the sharing of information with international organisations. In January last year, an Asian suspect, M.A.H., was arrested and 3.15kg of heroin seized from his bag in the transit hall of Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport. He was on his way from one of the Asian countries to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The department participated in many international operations such as Operation Shark in 2010 which led to the arrest of the members of a transcontinental drug trafficking gang. The operation lasted a whole year, Maj-Gen Jalil Mehdi said. “The UAE played an active and important role in the process by cooperating with an international team, that included officers from Britain, the Netherlands, South Africa and Malaysia.”

It also led international collaboration with competent regional authorities and foiled attempts to smuggle drugs and arresting gang members, including three persons of Arab nationalities in September last year with 6kg of hashish.

Also, the department arrested members of a gang, including two European women and Asians, for possession of 3kg of narcotic crystals in Dubai on September 12, 2011. The Dubai Police seized a consignment of 130kg of heroin, which toured many seas before it was discovered in Dubai in October 2011.

The Dubai Police recently announced the details of Operation Votino, which was against one of the largest international drug trafficking and money laundering rings in the world in 2011. It was participated by teams of different continents.

The ring’s activities, dating back to 2009, came to light after a breakthrough in February 2011 when the competent authorities in Peru in South America received information that two Europeans were in possession of 144kg of cocaine.

This led the Dubai Police to detain some persons, interrogation of whom revealed the presence of an international gang active in the smuggling of drugs. “We constituted a working group of major international prosecution officers for dismantling the gang, arresting its members and confiscating the drugs or money. The team comprised officers from the UAE, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany,” Maj-Gen Jalil Mehdi said.

The UAE team played a critical role in investigation, monitoring and following-up each order, and after nearly a year, the Dubai Police provided the international team with accurate and important information about the gang members, who were engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering. Based on the information, the Dubai Police found out that the accused had passed seven shipments. The force determined the fate of one of those shipments: that it had left Argentina and reached Australia.

Around midnight in early October last year, the Dubai Police arrested a Dutch gang member. After that, the police authorities in Spain arrested five Spanish men and one woman in mid-November. The international teams raided the houses and places of gangs in the Netherlands, Spain and Dubai, and confiscated a large number of important documents, computers and smart phones.

The Office of the Attorney-General in the Netherlands raided the headquarters of the ring and confiscated more than 20 cars and graphics, and details about bank accounts and jewellery, in addition to 50,000 euros. A large number of trucks that were used for shipping the contraband from the Netherlands to England and Italy were also impounded. A letter of appreciation was received by the Dubai Police from the Dutch authorities for the information that led to the dismantling of the gang and arrest of its members.

news@khaleejtimes.com

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