Muscat: Oman police have arrested members of an international drug ring for attempting to smuggle six million captagon pills to a neighbouring country and, officials said yesterday.
“A total of six million captagon pills were seized,” General Abdul Rahim Al Farsi, head of the Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Department of Royal Oman Police, said.
Al Farsi added the syndicate hid the captagon pills in pipes used in the construction industry and smuggled them into the country via three neighbouring countries.
“The [crime] ring was planning to smuggle the tablets to a neighbouring country,” Al Farsi said.
Officers at the Combating Narcotics Department intercepted the pills in a flat in the capital Muscat and arrested ten suspects.
Al Farsi praised the efforts of the officers at the department for smashing the ring.
All the accused have been forwarded to the Public Prosecution for further investigation and trial.
Meanwhile, Oman is working hard to tackle the drug menace by conducting intensive campaigns nationwide targeting the youth, the largest segment of drug users, officials say.
The number of drug addicts stood at 5,000 in 2014, compared to 4,000 in 2013, according to Ministry of Health figures.
Oman set up more than 12 rehabilitation centres in all governorates due to the increase in drug abuse in the country.
A source in the Royal Oman Police told Gulf News that the number of drug cases has been rising by more than ten per cent every year. He added that Oman’s geography, with its long coastline and proximity to some drug exporting countries, poses a major challenge in combating drug trafficking.
