Kuwait foils bids to smuggle drugs from Iran hidden in chocolates
A man of an Arab nationality, who showed up to receive the shipment, was arrested
Cairo: Customs officers at the Kuwait Airport had foiled an attempt to smuggle five kilograms of pure drugs into a chocolate shipment coming from Iran, local media reported.
The officers suspected parcels containing 15 cardboard boxes of chocolate bars coming from Iran, said Abdullah Al Muteiri, an official at the General Administration of Customs.
After checking them, the officers found inside them 16 small boxes of the methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant locally known as shabu, weighing 5,400kg.
The drugs were stashed below the chocolate bars, according to the official. A man of an Arab nationality, who showed up to receive the shipment, was arrested, Al Muteiri said.
In another incident, customs officers at the Kuwaiti Shuwaikh port seized nearly six kilograms of shabu in a container shipped from Iran, Al Rai newspaper reported.
The drugs were hidden inside bags of potatoes and rice. The goods were imported by a company operating in Kuwait, according to the report.
Kuwait applies tough penalties in drug cases, including the death penalty.