Seizures of illegal items at borders increases greatly in first half of year
ABU DHABI // Seizures of illicit items confiscated by Abu Dhabi Customs increased 12 per cent in the first half of the year over the same period last year, according to a Department of Finance report. From January to June this year, 7,434 smuggling attempts were foiled at Abu Dhabi’s air, land and sea borders. Customs officials also thwarted 28 people from entering the country illegally.
Customs officials foiled 299 drug-smuggling attempts and seized nearly 13 kilograms of banned drugs and more than two million narcotic pills.
A 29-year-old Arab was found at the airport with 369 pills, 119 capsules of a restricted drug and 1.55 grams of crystal meth.
In another case, a 54-year-old Arab woman flying in from an Asian country was found with 3,200 narcotic pills in her purse.
A 35-year-old man was caught with 10.28 grams of narcotics, 1,122 pills and 38 bottles of a liquid narcotic substance.
A 19-year-old Asian man was caught with 2,490 narcotic pills in his bag, while a 26-year-old Asian was arrested with 1.6kg of poppy seeds.
Customs centres also recorded 76 cases of alcohol smuggling and foiled 728 attempts to bring in bootleg tobacco.
There were 1,088 attempts to smuggle prescription drugs, expired drugs or drugs in quanti- ties exceeding authorised limits.
Thirty-two cases of smuggling money into the country were recorded, as well as five attempts of commercial fraud, such as non- disclosure of goods, manipulating product weight or country-of-origin details. Mohammed Khadem Al Hameli, acting director general at the General Administration of Customs Abu Dhabi, said it was working on developing its inspection procedures.
This would be done “by adopting the latest tech advancements and providing the necessary training to raise the performance of Customs inspectors to protect the homeland and citizens from risks of illegal trade”.