_resources1_16a3106e4ef_medium.jpg)
Dubai: Dubai Customs recently seized five million Captagon pills weighing 500 kilograms, thwarting yet another attempt to smuggle in large quantities of narcotics.
The seizure brings the number of Captagon pills seized since January 2018 to 15 million.
The latest smuggling bid was foiled through cooperation between different customs departments at Jebel Ali and the Tecom Customs Centre.
The illegal shipment was tracked by customs intelligence personnel who shared the information and images through the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO).
A RILO is a regional centre for collecting and analysing data, which also disseminates information throughout the global customs network. As a fundamental pillar of the enforcement strategy of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), intelligence and information exchanges are facilitated through 11 RILOs covering the six WCO regions.
After receiving information of a drug shipment in a nearby country, and by analysing and comparing the data, the Jebel Ali and Tecom Customs Centre teams decided to track a similar shipment en route to Dubai. The shipment was in a container ostensibly carrying vehicle spare parts from a country that doesn’t normally trade in spare parts.
Tracked through the smart Vessel Tracking System developed by Dubai Customs, the container was scanned, and with the help of the Dubai Customs K-9 dog unit, the contraband was found.
Since 2016, Jebel Ali and the Tecom Customs Centre have seized 225 million pills and 51 kilograms of other prohibited drugs in a total of 19 raids from 2016 to 2019.
