Dubai: Dubai Customs foiled an attempt to smuggle over 5.7 million Captagon pills at Jebel Ali and Tecom Customs Centre.

The pills were hidden in a foodstuff container coming from an Arab country. Cooperation between different customs departments led to the seizure.

The container was scanned and with the help of the customs’ K-9 Dog unit, the illegal Captagon pills were seized. This raises the number of Captagon pills seized during the last four months to 10.715 million pills.

Just a few days before the start of the year, Jebel Ali and Tecom Customs Centre had announced the seizure of five million Captagon pills, hidden inside bags of red lentils.

Commenting on the latest seizure, Dubai Customs director-general Ahmad Mahboob Musabih said all customs departments work and coordinate together to combat illegitimate trade and thwart any narcotic drugs smuggling attempts.

“We are vigilant and well prepared to all attempts of bringing these illegal contrabands into the UAE through Dubai entry points. The high sophisticated level that Dubai Customs reached in terms of infrastructure, equipment and the skills of their customs officers have led to more control over the emirate’s entry points and borders, following the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai,” he added.

Yousuf Al Hashemi, director of the Jebel Ali Customs Centres Management, said there is a high level of coordination between the centre and Dubai Customs’ intelligence department.

The centre has recently applied a smart inspection system that successfully streamlined the flow of containers and improved the process of tracking them.

“The full X-ray container detection system, the first of its kind in the world, can process 150 containers per hour. These achievements at the Jebel Ali Customs Centre Management support our preparations for the upcoming Expo 2020,” Al Hashimi said.

Shuaib Al Suwaidi, Customs Intelligence Director at Dubai Customs, revealed they track shipments on their way to Dubai’s entry points based on numerous data and intelligence resources.

“We have a very advanced smart risk engine in place which we developed in-house to track all coming shipments and classify them based on their risk level,” Al Suwaidi said.