Video: Bid to smuggle 2.5 million drug pills hidden in machines foiled in UAE

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Video: Bid to smuggle 2.5 million drug pills hidden in machines foiled in UAE

The pills were worth Dh25 million.

by

Afkar Ali Ahmed

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Published: Tue 14 Aug 2018, 5:16 PM

Last updated: Tue 14 Aug 2018, 7:58 PM

The Ajman Police, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior (MoI), have foiled an attempt to smuggle 2.5 million captagon pills worth Dh25 million.
The pills, hidden in 40 feed-grinding machines and a power generator, were seized at a UAE port. The operation led to the arrest of three Arab suspects.
A 51-year-old suspect, staying illegally in the country, was arrested red-handed at the warehouse as he was trying to extract the pills from the power generator. Two others, aged 30 and 40, were arrested from other emirates.
Addressing a Press conference, Major-General Sheikh Sultan bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ajman Police, said the ministry's Federal Anti-Narcotics Authority received a tip-off about the shipment two months ago.
Based on the information, a team comprising anti-narcotic officers from the Ajman Police and the MoI was formed. The team kept a close watch on the suspects and waited for them to receive the shipment in two phases. The raid was then conducted at their location in Al Jarf industrial area.

Brigadier Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Owais, deputy director of the Federal Anti-Narcotics Authority, said: "We waited for both the shipments to arrive before conducting the raid to ensure that the whole consignment was confiscated."
The peddlers were planning to smuggle the drugs to a neighbouring country through the UAE. "Although the smugglers were careful in the implementation of their plan, the police officers and anti-narcotics team succeeded in busting them," he added.
Lt-Colonel Mohammad Majid Al Nuaimi, deputy director of the police's anti-narcotics department, said the smugglers tried to "distract the customs officers" by changing the data stickers on the grinders and the generator. They were monitored at every step to ensure the drug wasn't used in the country or didn't reach its destination. 
During the raid, the police used sniffer dogs to identify the exact place of the substance inside the machines and generators. 
The suspects confessed to their plans of shipping the pills to a nearby country. They have been referred to the public prosecution for further investigations.  
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com


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