Dubai: The war on drugs in Dubai led to huge success in 2018 when anti-narcotic police officers seized around 501kg of drugs, said an official on Sunday.
The seizures were 47 per cent more than 2017 when officers seized 340kg of drugs.
“It was a successful year for Dubai police in fighting drugs locally and internationally. Seizures of narcotic substances increased last year compared to 2017. The top drugs were marijuana, heroin and hashish,” said Colonel Khalid Bin Moyazeh, Deputy Director of the Anti-Narcotic Department at Dubai Police.
The latest statistics of Dubai Police revealed that 2,734 drug suspects were arrested last year compared to 2,553 in 2017. Majority of the suspects were drug addicts.
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age of the youngest drug suspect apprehended.Police arrested 857 suspects last year and most of them were aged between 18 and 25.
Meanwhile, police arrested eight drug suspects, ages between 15 and 17, compared to 26 suspects arrested in 2017.
“The youngest drug suspect was 15 years old. Official statistics showed a big reduction in number of suspects arrested in this small age due to growing awareness and parents cooperating with authorities to find a solution for their addicted kids as those who seek addiction treatment in the UAE won’t be prosecuted, according to Article 43 of the Anti-Narcotics Law,” Col Bin Moyazeh added.
Dubai Police recorded 1,833 drug cases last year compared to 1,742 cases in 2017.
“As many as 1,243 cases were of drug consumption and we noticed there was an increase in drugs trading in Dubai as we arrested 324 drug traders last year compared to 199 in 2017.”
Dubai Police revealed that around 19.6 million pills of illegal pain killers seized in 2018 compared to 190.3 million pills in 2017
Website promoting drugs
Dubai Police have blocked 44 websites last year in the continuing push to curb online purchases of illegal drugs from outside the UAE.
Col Bin Moyazeh said that constant monitoring of the internet is keeping some illicit drugs out of the country.
He said police regularly monitor suspicious websites that sell drugs.
“We blocked 44 websites involved in trafficking and sale of drugs last year compared to 59 blocked websites in 2017,” Col Bin Moyazeh said.
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websites blocked by Dubai police to stem online purchases of illegal drugsHe said the electronic patrols search the internet every day to detect the suspicious sites and then coordinate with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to block them.
Col Bin Moyazeh said Dubai Police provided 158 tips to countries around the world which helped to arrest 158 drug suspects and seizure of 1,525kg of drugs.
“Dubai Police always believe that drug is an international problem which needs global cooperation. We provided 158 drug-related information to other countries to foil drug operations,” Col Bin Moyazeh added.
