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Dubai Police sleuths net huge drug hauls

DUBAI — You may be smart, but we are smarter! That’s the message being sent to the drug traffickers by the Anti-Drugs Unit of Dubai Police.

If statistics are any indication, the crack sleuths of Dubai Police have certainly netted enough “dope” to get a “professional high”.

In almost nine months — from November 24, 2006 to August 20, 2007 — the Anti-Drugs Unit busted 19 drug cases, resulting in the arrests of 56 men and women, and seizure of 78.4kg of heroin worth Dh20,392,500.

Interesting is the fact that no matter how the drug traffickers chose to hoodwink the law-enforcement agencies, the use of hi-tech equipment combined with efficient handling of “suspects” at the airport and precision-monitoring of “suspects” in and around the city always bore fruit for the Dubai Police.

The “drug intercepts” uncovered modus operandi that varied from one seizure to another.

African ‘mules’

In some cases, African ‘mules’ were caught transporting contraband drugs concealed in their vaginal cavities, while in others ‘mules’ were found to have swallowed drug capsules in the hope of flushing it out after reaching their destination safely.

In many other cases, Asian ‘mules’ were stopped in their tracks while attempting to proliferate narcotics hidden in toys, textile rolls, toothpaste tubes, detergent packets and even almonds packets.

But that was not to be! Their plans were aborted by alert officers and advanced technology being used by police and Customs authorities in Dubai.

Demand for heroine

Reliable sources in Dubai Police say that the narcotics smugglers prefer heroin to other drugs because it is easily concealable and fetches high profits in the international market. The price of one kilogram of heroin is believed to be Dh70,000 ($20,000 approximately).

Police sources disclosed that over the last decade 95 per cent of those arrested with drugs were of Asian origin.

Of late, however, Africans seem to have taken to drug smuggling in a big way. As many as 32 men and women of African origin landed in the police net during the nine months preceding August this year.

This trend is attributed to the poverty in African states and lack of employment opportunities. The fast buck generated by the successful ‘drug runs’ and the charm of visiting foreign lands are enough to lure poor Africans into turning ‘mules’ willingly and knowingly.

However, forensic tests revealed that most of the arrested Africans were not drug users. According to police and Customs sources, Dubai is just a transit point in the worldwide drug smuggling network. Because of the emirate’s tough anti-drug laws and zero-tolerance policy, Customs authorities in European countries do not usually suspect people travelling from or transiting through Dubai.

Transit point

Dubai is a convenient transit point for drugs because of its open skies policy, the sources said. Over 80 airlines run their operations through Dubai, connecting more than 110 destinations across the globe.

In some of the drug busts, the Dubai Police worked in tandem with police officers from other emirates. In December 2006, a joint operation by the police officers from Dubai and Sharjah resulted in the recovery of more than 3kg of heroin. Three Africans were arrested in this connection and a fourth one managed to abscond.

In another joint operation on January 13, 2007 a Tanzanian was arrested and heroin capsules weighing 1.38kg were recovered from his stomach.

During September 2007, 750kg of hashish and 57kg of heroin were recovered in four separate seizures by Dubai Police and Dubai Customs. Fifteen people were arrested in connection with the seizures, said Brig Al Mazina of Dubai Police.

In one of the September seizures, heroin was found neatly concealed in cavities carved inside almonds. Two Afghans were arrested.