Dubai Police seized 1,034kg of drugs in Q4 2020

The Dubai Police seized 1,034kg of illegal drugs in Q4 2020 in 728 narcotic-related cases arresting 1,044 suspects.

Brigadier Eid Muhammad Thani Hareb, director of Anti-narcotics at Dubai Police, said that the force had cooperated and coordinated their efforts with others from within and outside the Dubai Police department.

In a Facebook post, it revealed that it had blocked 16 websites that promoted drugs.

Additionally, Dubai Police had provided international anti-narcotics agencies with 68 security tips that led to the seizure of 3,512 tonnes of illegal drugs and narcotic pills and the arrest of 34 suspects.

Among some of the biggest drug busts in Q4, the police foiled a plot by an international criminal gang to sell 40kgs of crystal drug in the UAE in October, in an operation dubbed the “Black Bag”, named after the bag they used to use to transport the narcotics.

In another case in November, the police intercepted an attempt to smuggle a much larger quantity of 123kgs of crystal meth into the country which was hidden in the bottom of a refrigerated shipping container arriving from an Asian country.

Read: Dubai Police foil attempt to smuggle 123kg of crystal meth into the UAE

The operation codenamed “The Fridge” resulted in the security forces apprehending three gang members red-handed.

Dubai Customs meanwhile reported, also in November, that it too had thwarted the operationg of a gang attempting to smuggle 663.2kgs of drugs into the country.

Read: Video: Dubai Customs seize over 663kgs of drugs including crystal meth, heroin, opium and cannabis

The narcotics were found stashed aboard a dhow entering the emirate’s coastal border near the Creek and Deira Wharfage Customs Centre in Dubai. The shipment included 306.44 kg of crystal meth, 201.44kg of opium and cannabis, and 122.72kg of narcotic pills and psychotropic substances, and 32.62kg of heroin.