The Dubai Police recently thwarted an international criminal gang’s attempt to smuggle 86 million banned captagon pills into the UAE.
The operation, aptly codenamed “Storm,” resulted in the seizure of drugs weighing 13.76 tonnes, concealed in 651 doors and 432 home décor panels.
The detailed account of this successful operation was released in a documentary on Monday, highlighting the efforts of the anti-narcotics officers in effecting one of the largest captagon busts globally.
The seized pills were valued at a staggering Dh3.77 billion, and six suspects were taken into custody.
The operation was initiated following a tip-off about five containers loaded with drugs on a cargo ship. The police acted swiftly to identify these containers while ensuring the utmost secrecy.
After docking in Dubai, initial inspections of the containers did not reveal any irregularities. However, subsequent x-ray scans of the heavy furniture items detected “unidentified particles,” and a police dog confirmed the presence of narcotics.
The officers carefully dismantled the furniture, discovering the concealed narcotic pills arranged in hundreds of rows.
The containers were then returned to the port, where police officers were stationed round the clock to apprehend the suspects.
One by one, the suspects were arrested, some at the port, others at the delivery site, and another in a warehouse in a different emirate.
Extracting the drugs from the furniture panels was a meticulous process that spanned several days.
“The operation took a lot of time and effort. However, we believed firmly that God was by our side and in the competence of our officers in serving the country,” commented one of the officers.
This is not the first attempt by criminals to smuggle captagon pills into the UAE. Dubai Customs recently seized 956 bags of pills concealed within food items, revealing the varying tactics employed by traffickers to infiltrate the country with illicit substances.