Dubai: Dubai Police helped foil five international drug smuggling operations in various countries thanks to intelligence from the Anti-Narcotics Department, said authorities.
Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that the five operations lead to the seizure of a total 18.65kg of cocaine.
He said the Anti-Narcotics Department provided intelligence to the Nigerian, Indian, and Omani authorities.
Two African women were attempting to smuggle nine kilograms of cocaine in their suitcases into Delhi, but the information provided by Dubai Police helped the Indian authorities arrest them and a third person who was waiting for them in the airport.
Another 396 grams of cocaine were seized from an Asian woman in Muscat airport, who hid the drugs in soap bars.
Maj Gen Al Mansouri said the three other African suspects were arrested by Nigerian and Indian authorities when one of them tried to smuggle 810 grams of cocaine in his stomach into India, and the other was arrested in Lagos for trying to smuggle 2.155kg of cocaine in 100 capsules in his stomach.
The third man was arrested at Dubai International Airport on March 29, when he was en route from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Nigeria.
He said the officers in the airport noticed that he was acting strange and looked anxious, so they stopped him and checked his hand luggage, where they found 139 capsules filled with three kilograms of cocaine.
Maj Gen Al Mansouri said they found another 146 capsules filled with 3.3 kilograms of cocaine in his stomach.
During questioning the man confessed that he was smuggling the drugs for a friend in exchange for money.
Maj Gen Al Mansouri said the man was transferred to the public prosecution and charged with drug possession and smuggling.
