Dubai airport passenger found with heroin in laptop and shoes
▶ Customs officers thwart apparent attempt to smuggle 880g of drug into Emirates after searching traveller
Customs officers have foiled an attempt to smuggle 880g of pure heroin through Dubai International Airport.
Announcing the seizure on Thursday, Dubai Customs said the drugs were hidden in an Asian traveller’s suitcase poles, laptop and shoes.
The incident occurred during the first three months of the year at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 2, when officers became suspicious of a passenger and searched him.
At least seven packages of heroin were found, officers said.
Dubai International Airport director of passenger operations Ibrahim Kamali praised the role played by customs officers in thwarting efforts to bring drugs into the country, despite increasingly sophisticated efforts by smugglers.
Mr Kamali said officers use advanced equipment to detect drugs and Dubai Customs runs workshops for its officers to combat drug trafficking.
These are on topics including identifying different types of drugs, methods of smuggling, monitoring and detecting drugs in the field, identifying forged and counterfeit items, developing security awareness, handling hazardous materials and mastering techniques for searching passengers and their luggage.
Customs officers also receive training in effective communication skills, negotiation, dialogue and persuasion.
The latest incident came weeks after Dubai Customs seized huge quantities of drugs in a double operation at the emirate’s ports.
Officers involved in Operation Double Strike seized 32.8 million narcotic pills that were hidden in a shipment of food and medical equipment at Jebel Ali Port.
Inspectors also seized 1.2 million Captagon pills, weighing 227kg, at Deira Wharfage Customs Centre.
The drugs had come from an Asian country, said officials.
Captagon is the most in-demand narcotic in the Middle East. In February, police in Abu Dhabi arrested a man who allegedly tried to smuggle 4.5 million Captagon tablets in tins of green beans.
The force said that the suspect planned to transport the huge haul of illicit drugs to a neighbouring country.
Brig Gen Taher Al Dhaheri, director of Abu Dhabi Police’s anti-narcotics team, said the plot was thwarted thanks to a surveillance operation.
Officers had tracked the man’s movements after being alerted about a plan to bring the drugs to the UAE before they were shipped to their final destination.
The estimated value of the pills was not revealed.
In the same month, Dubai Police thwarted three criminal operations aimed at selling 111kg of drugs with an estimated value of Dh32 million. About 99kg of the haul was made up of Captagon, which was valued at about Dh31 million.
In February, a suspect in Abu Dhabi allegedly tried to smuggle 4.5 million Captagon tablets in tins of green beans