Bid to smuggle 49 rolls of heroin foiled

Dubai Customs inspectors at Al Hamriya Port foiled a bid to smuggle narcotics that included heroin, Tramadol and Opium on board a wooden ship coming from an Asian country. Butti Al Zafri, Director of Coastal Customs Centres at Dubai Customs, said that during a regular inspection of the ship upon its arrival at the point of entry for Al Hamriya Port, the customs inspector suspected the contents of some of the goods on board the ship, particularly the content of 30 packs of frozen shrimps and 150 bags of seeds. By taking a closer look at the bags of seeds, he found 84 Tramadol boxes hidden inside. Tramadol is prohibited for use or trade outside a medical scope. These boxes had 27,298 pills in them. This aroused the inspector’s suspicion of the rest of the goods on board the ship. By inspecting the shrimp packs, the inspector found 49 rolls containing a substance similar to heroin. Thus, the Customs K9 Unit was summoned along with the Mobile Lab, which has cutting-edge equipment to accurately detect narcotics. The result was positive indicating that the rolls contained pure heroin weighing 11.3g. Continuing the search operation, customs inspectors found a glass bottle containing a liquid that was suspected to be opium weighing 139g. Al Zafri added that during the interrogation of one of the crew members, he said that these narcotics don’t belong to him and that he is only a carrier who is supposed to deliver them to some people inside the country who will circulate them among youngsters. After investigation and information collection, the suspect along with the information gathered were transferred to the General Department of Anti-Narcotics at Dubai Police as part of the joint cooperation and coordination to proceed with all necessary legal action. Al Zafri applauded the inspectors’ vigilance toward protecting the society against the dangers of smuggling these toxic items which are harmful to those who use them and negatively affect the security and stability of the society.