Dubai Police successfully dismantled a three-member gang who tried to smuggle nearly 90,000 captagon pills disguised inside clothing buttons, an illicit haul valued at around Dh4.488 million.
The syndicate, consisting of two Arab nationals and one Asian national, was caught under Operation Toxic Buttons, a joint effort between Dubai Police and Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC). The seized narcotics weighed close to 19 kilograms.
Authorities said the sting began after credible intelligence revealed that the gang was preparing to receive a shipment of narcotics and transfer it to a neighboring country, acting under the direction of a leader based abroad.
Armed with warrants from the Public Prosecution, a special police task force monitored the suspects day and night, tracking their movements, vehicles, and residences. Officers observed the group transporting the drugs as though they were ordinary goods, repeatedly shifting them from one place to another.
When the raids were carried out, police discovered the pills hidden inside clothing buttons — a concealment method that traffickers likely thought would pass unnoticed. Despite the elaborate disguise, the scheme was exposed, and the gang’s plans were crushed.
Officials credited the operation’s success to the expertise of Dubai Police teams trained to identify new smuggling tactics. They stressed that the force remains determined to dismantle drug networks, prosecute offenders, and shield society from the dangers of narcotics.
