• Home

Over 1,000 Held in Drug Possession Cases Last Year

He said that drug-related cases increased by 20 per cent last year and 440 people were deported in connection with drug offences.

The increase in the number of drug offences registered was the result of Dubai Police’s intensified vigil and intelligence gathering system.

Brig Mehdi said workers at some of the pharmacies were caught selling ‘controlled’ drugs to people who did not possess prescriptions. Some psychiatric clinics, too, were found to be violating rules and ethics by prescribing ‘controlled’ drugs in order to make profits.

It was also discovered that some of the drug addicts visited more than one clinic in order to get access to additional quantity of ‘controlled’ drugs.

According to Brig Mehdi, the majority of the people found abusing drugs were UAE nationals in the 20-30 age group.

Some of the drug abusers were even less than 13 years old, the officer pointed out.

He said that 90 per cent of the drug addicts, who used heroin, were exposed to hepatitis and HIV.

However, an encouraging factor was that some of the addicts were showing willingness to police following up on their conduct so that they could avoid the habit. Currently, 230 addicts were on the police follow-up list.

Brig Mehdi said that under Article 43 of UAE federal law, no action shall be taken against any person who handed himself over to the police and who had no previous police record.

He cited the example of a drug addict who had informed the police that he was in possession of 10kg of heroin, but wanted to stop drug use. The police, therefore, did not take action against him and he was sent for medical treatment.

The officer regretted that some mothers were not informing police or the authorities concerned about the presence of drug abusers in the families. On the contrary, they shielded such people when the police went after them.

He urged the families to act responsibly and cooperate with the police.

He suggested that the elders in the family should be aware of some of the symptoms of drug addiction, for instance, nervousness, excessive sleeping, weight loss, lack of concentration, pale looks and poor appetite. They should also look for needle marks on body, he added.

He said Dubai Police had employed 13 former drug addicts and efforts were being made to employ another 26 and to providing social assistance to 40 former addicts. A number of people had been arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into prisons and detention centres, Brig Mehdi said, but pointed out that special measures were being taken to curb such activities.

He stated that an anti-drugs awareness unit had been set up in Dubai Central Prison to help the inmates to give up drug abuse, and to prevent smuggling of drugs into the prison.

Mehdi said that UAE was being used by traffickers as a transit point to move drug consignments to other parts of the world.

amira@khleejtiemes.com

• UAE