Man with 1.5kg heroin pills in gut detained at RAK airport
The Ras Al Khaimah Customs officers have foiled a bid to smuggle 1.5kg of heroine, worth Dh750,000 as per street market value, at the RAK International Airport.
The drugs, comprising 115 plastic-wrapped heroin packets were concealed in the gut of the Asian suspect who was nabbed red-handed, according to a top official here. Brigadier Dr Mohammed Al Mahrazi, director-general of the RAK Customs, said the customs inspectors suspected the passenger as he looked anxious, tired and frantic.
“His luggage was manually searched and scanned, but nothing unusual was found. The X-ray scan done later showed an amount of strange objects inside his stomach.”
When asked about the nature of those objects, the suspect confessed to having swallowed packets stuffed with narcotics, he added. Weirdly, the trafficker claimed to be unaware of the content. “I didn’t know what kind of drug they contained neither did I know how many were there.”
The 115 packets were later found to be stuffed with around about 1.5kg of the drug heroin. “Upon investigating, the smuggler admitted to receiving the narcotics at the departure section of the airport of an Asian country.”
The accused added that he was supposed to hand over the drugs to another person in the emirate in exchange for money. “The passenger, seizure investigation report and the seized items were handed over to RAK Police for legal action.”
Earlier, the RAK Customs had stopped a druggie with 198 capsules of heroin, weighing some 2kg and valued at Dh1 million, that were extracted from his intestines. Studies show that young people in the age group 14-20 are not aware of the consequences of drug addiction, of which some are affordable and easily accessible. Roua Abd Elalim, a pharmacist, told Khaleej Times that heroin abuse is associated with serious health conditions.
“It also lead to infectious diseases, like HIV/Aids and hepatitis,” he said.
A few weeks back, the RAK Customs introduced a new scanning system. “The new sophisticated device, already in operation, costs over Dh1.6 million,” Brig Dr Mahrazi added. ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com