Dubai: Dubai Police have foiled the biggest attempt to smuggle 5.6 tonnes of Captagon into the country.
The tablets were hidden inside electric cables.
Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, met Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, commander-In-Chief at Dubai Police to recognise their work in foiling the biggest attempt to smuggle the drugs inside containers through Jebel Ali port.
Major General Al Merri revealed the operation’s details to Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other senior officers, describing it at the biggest Captagon smuggling operation in the world.
More than 35.7 million pills of the illegal painkiller was stashed in the reels of electric cables containers in order to export it to an Arab country.
“It is the most distinguished operation due to the high level of cooperation between different departments. We arrested four Arab people who were part of international gang to smuggle drugs and the gang’s leader was running the smuggling from outside the country,” Maj Gen Al Merri said.
The operation titled ‘Pule2’ started after tips arrived to Dubai police about suspicious containers in Jebel Ali.
Brigadier Eid Mohammad Thani Hareb, director of Anti-Narcotic Department in Dubai Police said that a team of officers put a plan to monitor the cargo and the people who extract the containers from the port.
“The operation lasted for 15 days. We monitored the people who extracted the containers from the port and followed it when they transfer it in trucks to Sharjah. We arrested four men including the gang chief, his assistant and two truck drivers who transported the containers, in cooperation with Sharjah Police,” Brig Hareb said.
It took hours to extract the illegal painkillers from the reels of electric cables.
Dubai Police said that one of the suspects was brother of the big ring leader who staying in a Eurasian country.
Police said the ring leader was looking to re-export the drugs to another Arab country.
Teamwork and technology helped
Meanwhile, Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that the teamwork and using latest technology in policing helped to arrest the gang members and foiled their smuggling attempt.
He praised the role of anti-narcotic department at Dubai Police and the data analysis center for their work in gathering the information and coordinating with the teams to arrest the gang.
