Dubai customs foil attempt to smuggle drugs

Dubai, Jan 11 (IANS/WAM) Dubai customs officials have foiled an attempt to smuggle a huge consignment of drugs through the emirate to Europe and the Arab region, authorities said Tuesday.

“Customs inspectors at the Cargo Village suspected that some consignments coming from two Arab countries and an African country contained 123,000 tablets of a dangerous narcotic that causes serious side effects to whoever takes them,” Omar Ahmed Al Mehairy, senior manager of the air cargo operation department at Dubai Customs, said.

The shipment was referred to the health inspector who reported that the tablets are controlled and internationally prohibited for use without authorised medical supervision.

The customs department is coordinating with the Regional Intelligence and Liaison Office over the passage of the shipment to its final destination in order to seize the involved parties in the smuggling attempt, he said.

The consignments were registered in names of individuals and not companies licensed to import such type of medicines.

The tablets if taken in large dosage without medical supervision could lead to nervousness, self-harming, hyperactivity, agitation, aggression, hallucination, fainting, insomnia, jaundice and can ultimately lead to death, according to the health inspector’s report.

–IANS/WAM