How Dubai Police busted dope ring at ‘Zero Hour’

legal action as per international agreements to extradite them to Australia.

In a separate interview with Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, Al Marri said the men did not resist arrest when the Dubai Police officers swooped down on two locations in Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) and Dubai Marina.

One of the suspects — identified by the AFP as Koder Jomaa — runs a food outlet called Fit Food Kitchen in JLT. When asked by the Australian paper if he was concerned that drug trafficking proceeds were being laundered through Dubaibased businesses, Al Marri said “I don’t think so, no.”

Performing a multinational operation such as the one that netted the suspects is “not easy”, Al Marri said. “It’s been amazing, for the first time to have such cooperation between three continents, Europe, the Gulf and Australia, but this is not easy,” he noted. “It was very good communication and this operation should prove that. We had at least three meetings a week prior to the Zero Hour,” he added.

This isn’t the first time that the UAE and Australia have worked together to bring down drug trafficking organisations.

In August 2015, for example, the Dubai Police and the AFP foiled a bid to smuggle 145kg of heroin worth more than Dh10 million. The operation — codenamed ‘Golden Beach’ — resulted in the seizure of a ship in international waters off Tanzania and the arrest of 16 suspects.

In another operation in June 2014, UAE authorities worked with US and Australian law enforcement to seize over 1,000kg of heroin that was being transported in a dhow off the coast of Africa.

reporters@khaleejtimes.com