Sharjah - The seizures and arrests were made under a police operation - 'Coordinates'
Published: Wed 3 Jan 2018, 3:54 PM
Last updated: Wed 3 Jan 2018, 6:18 PM
The Anti-Narcotics Department of the Sharjah Police smashed a huge drug racket by arresting 19 Asian peddlers, while seizing 20kg of heroin and crystal drugs worth Dh15.27 million from them.
The seizures and arrests were made under a police operation - 'Coordinates' - launched by the cops recently.
The suspects - who were promoting the drugs through various social networks - buried the stuff in the desert and shot pictures of it while also sending the photos of the location to the buyers. Some of them even hid them in the engines of used cars.
The peddlers - aged between 20 and 43 - were arrested from various industrial and residential areas. Some of them were caught red-handed while hiding the substance in the desert.
Addressing a press conference organized by the Sharjah Police, Brig Mohammed Rashid Al Bayat, director of the police department, said that it is considered one of the biggest drug hauls in 2017 - not in terms of the quantity seized but in the number of people involved. "All the suspects are absconders, and visitors who overstayed in the country as well as infiltrators," he added.
Lt. Col Majid Al Assaf, director of Anti-Narcotics Department of the Sharjah Police, said that they received a tip-off about a drug smuggling racket. Acting on this information, the police immediately formed a team, which managed to identify one of the suspects who was arrested red-handed with 15 rolls of heroin and crystals.
During interrogation, the suspect informed the police that he had obtained the substance from another person of same nationality who possessed 221 rolls of heroin and crystal drugs that he stored in different locations. The police arrested him as well from a residence in Sharjah, where they found some of the substances and tools he used to consume the stuff. This man told the police about the locations in the desert where he buried the drugs and revealed information about his other accomplices, including one who had been guided by a trader from outside the country regarding the trading deals and way to transfer cash.
The police team continued their search and investigation and nabbed another suspect possessing 77 rolls of the drugs, which were found in his home.
The cops arrested all the 19 members involved in the drugs racket and seized 20kg of heroin and crystals - of different weights and sizes - worth Dh15, 270,000. They were nabbed from different hideouts.
Lt Col Jassem Al Suwaidi, deputy director of Anti-Narcotics Department of the Sharjah Police, said that the suspects had been working cautiously, mingling among the public while hiding their identities; travelling across the emirate to sell and promote the drugs. Some of them stored the drugs in junk cars, while some buried them in the desert, and some hid the stuff in the engines of used cars. "The police team worked day and night to bust the racket and arrested them one by one," he added.
Al Bayat pointed out the police authorities, judicial and legislative institutions coordinate and strive to foil the schemes of gangs to smuggle drugs into the country. The new amendment to Article 43 of the Federal Law on the Control of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances states that no criminal proceedings shall be instituted against drug abusers who surrender or are handed over to the police by the family members or relatives for treatment. "The amendment of this article also includes preventive and punitive aspects," he said.
The department authorities urged the people to cooperate with the Sharjah Police and contribute to combating the scourge of drugs by contacting the anti-narcotics agencies on 8004654 or telephone the officer at Department of Narcotics Control, Sharjah Police Department on 0561188272 or email: notodrugs@shjpolice.gov.ae .
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