Dubai: Over 500 drug dealers arrested in first half of year

More than 500 drugs dealers have been arrested by Dubai Police in the first six months of 2022, a top officer said while launching the second edition of ‘Anonymous Messages’ campaign in cooperation with ‘Al Ameen’ service.

The campaign under the motto: ‘No engagement… No Reply… No Repost’ encourages community members, who are contacted or feel harassed or blackmailed on social media platforms by drug dealers or criminals to report such issues anonymously and the force will ensure quick action. The campaign also urges parents to create awareness among their children on cybercrime and consequences of responding to messages offering drugs and other illegal substances.

The force has been receiving complaints from community members, who after blocking messages from drug dealers would get messages from a new phone number.

“We pay extra attention to the public comments and reports on these types of messages. The most frequent complaints indicated that no matter how many times they blocked these numbers, the messages kept coming from different ones. This was expected as the criminal and dealers are developing new techniques and taking advantage of the latest technologies to reach addicts, in particular, and members of the public, in general,” Brigadier Khalid bin Muwaiza, Acting Director of the General Department of Anti-Narcotics, said.

“Although we spare no effort to combat this phenomenon, the concerns that these messages succeeded in getting a response from people out of curiosity, especially the adolescent, are still remaining an issue.”

Brigadier Muwaiza noted that criminals were making good use of technology to evade detection by the force. “The criminals would typically share GPS coordinates of the location of the drugs, which were usually buried in the ground in remote areas,” he added.

Brigadier Muwaiza said the General Department of Anti-Narcotics at Dubai Police has been working round the clock to combat the scourge of drugs. He pointed out that the community members can reach Dubai Police for support on toll-free number 901 or the ‘e-crime’ online platform.

“During the first half of this year, the e-crime platform received about 2,222 reports on anonymous messages, while 527 dealers were arrested during the same period. The arrest of one dealer could solve a large number of reports," Brigadier Muwaiza said.

Brigadier Muwaiza said the launch of the second edition of the campaign comes, as per the directives of Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, to fight against such activity through two ways. First is awareness-raising through Hemaya International Center in cooperation with partners and second by combating the dealers on the ground.

Brigadier Muwaiza said parents play a significant role in raising their children’s awareness on the dangers of drugs and protecting them against cybercriminals, who exploit the social media platforms to promote drugs, as well as advise them what to do if they receive such messages.

“Through this campaign, the Dubai Police aims to raise the awareness of the parents to educate their children on the dangers of replying to these messages, whether from legal or health aspects. The force urges the public to contact the police, report these messages through e-crime platforms, and block the numbers.”

The ‘Anonymous Messages’ campaign, in cooperation with ‘Al Ameen’ Service, runs until November 28.

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