Dubai Police foil Dhs500m cocaine smuggling attempt

In an operation codenamed ‘Scorpion’, the Dubai Police has thwarted an attempt to smuggle 500kg of pure cocaine into the country.

The narcotics, worth more than Dhs500m in street value, were hidden within a cargo container.

According to the Dubai Police, the operation is the region’s largest drug seizure. It resulted in the arrest of a Middle Eastern gang member operating as an intermediary inside the country for an international drug syndicate and the seizure of drugs he possessed.

Brigadier Eid Mohammed Thani Hareb, director of Anti-Narcotics Department at Dubai Police, said they had placed the suspect under close surveillance round the clock before they raided his place and made the arrest.

“We received a security tip of an international drug syndicate attempting to smuggle a huge amount of pure cocaine hidden in a cargo container into a seaport with the assistance of a Middle Eastern accomplice in the emirate,” said Hareb.

. @DubaiPoliceHQ foils Drug Smuggling Attempt Worth AED 500 Million. #Dubai pic.twitter.com/JWErGbEkAZ

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) October 10, 2021

“An investigating team was immediately formed to verify and respond to the security tip. They monitored the suspect’s movements until he received the expected narcotics shipment.”

“Once the shipment arrived, the suspect transported the illegal drugs to another emirate and stored them in a warehouse with the aim of selling and promoting the harmful toxins.”

Footage of Operation Scorpion shared by Dubai Media Office shows CCTV footage tracking the suspect from the time he arrived at a local airport. It then shows a team surveilling the suspect and following his SUV across multiple days as he frequents a warehouse. The surveillance footage shows him buying tools to extract the drugs from the container as well as making evasive driving maneuvers to detect any possible surveillance. The video shows the eventual arrest of the suspect and the seizing of the drugs from the container in his presence.

Colonel Khalid bin Muwaiza, deputy director of the General Department of Anti-Narcotics, revealed details about the raid that led to the arrest of the accused. He said that the suspect had rented an SUV and bought angle grinders and other cutting tools to unload the container.

“At the zero hour, our officers raided the warehouse, caught the man red-handed and seized the narcotics,” said Muwaiza.

The suspect has a criminal record in his home country, has confessed to the crime and has been referred to the Public Prosecution for further legal action.