Dubai: Police have arrested three suspects linked to an international gang dealing in drug trafficking and money laundering last month.
Dubai Police arrested the suspects, between December 10 and 12. The trio are connected to an international gang that spans across the UAE, South Africa, UK and The Netherlands and they communicate through cryptic messages via telecommunication methods.
"We haven't found any drugs here but the involvement of the three suspects with drug trafficking crimes overseas is not acceptable and punishable according to the penal code article number 21," said Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police, during a press conference on Monday.
International team
Dubai Police arrested the suspects after forming an international team which included six members of Dubai police. The investigation took over a year in order to track the gang's modus operandi and their activities.
The suspects arrested in Dubai are A.S. who is considered the mastermind and his accomplices M.A. and K.A. According to police sources, A.S. who is of Asian origin, but carries an European passport and other undisclosed passports, which might be forged, was arrested in a Europe and jailed for five years in drug-related crimes before coming to the UAE and resuming his activities.
"He [A.S.] was residing in the country under the guise of managing a bogus company, he was already arrested and jailed in a European country for drug-related crimes, he came to the country and continued his activities here.
A fourth suspect was also arrested but was sent to a European country which had produced a warrant for him," said Maj. Gen. Al Mazeina.
The investigation and "international collaboration" between authorities in the four countries resulted in discovering the gang's last activity. The gang was planning to traffic drugs from Surinam in South America to South Africa, to be delivered to European countries.
On December 10, South African authorities arrested seven suspects and confiscated a cargo containing 316kg of cocaine and 100,000 pills of Methaqualone or commonly known as Mandrax.
On the same day, authorities from The Netherlands arrested three more suspects with 637kg of hashish, 524kg of marijuana, a firearm and a money estimated to be worth around Dh500,000, while in the UK, two suspects were arrested and over Dh1.8 million was found on them.
