Bid to smuggle 13,600 Captagon pills foiled

DUBAI - The Dubai Customs recently foiled a bid to smuggle 13,629 pills of psychotropic drug Captagon, weighing 290gm and worth nearly Dh410,000.

The pills were confiscated from a freight heading from an Arab country to a Gulf country through the Dubai International Airport.

According to a senior official, the contraband was detected during a routine inspection of postal parcels at Dubai Cargo Village as customs inspectors suspected a cargo of 59 cloth samples.

Omar Ahmad Al Muhairi, Senior Manager of Air Cargo Operations at Dubai Customs, said unusual lumpiness was detected in some parts when the cargo was subjected to an X-ray scan. “Some pills were found concealed on the sides of the clothes,” he said. The Customs K9 dog squad was brought to the scene along with the Mobile Lab which both confirmed that the seized pills were a contraband identified as Captagon.

“As many as 13,629 pills of Captagon, weighing about 290gm and worth nearly Dh410,000, were found,” Al Muhairi told Khaleej Times.

In September this year, the Dubai Customs thwarted a bid to smuggle some 800 pills of Captagon. The contraband was seized from the vehicle of a Gulf citizen who was crossing the Hatta border checkpoint to the emirate.

While the customs seized 651,000 Captagon pills in February 2009, the Sharjah Police seized over 600,000 pills worth Dh18 million in June 2009.

Captagon invented in the early 1960s was banned worldwide but is popular as a recreational drug in some Arab countries. Al Muhairi warned that Captagon is one of the most dangerous chemical narcotics and has the same impact of cocaine. “Drug dealers tend to produce the contraband since no farms or manual labour is required in the production process.”

The case was transferred to the Anti-Narcotics Department of the Dubai Police which passed on the information collected to the destination country to arrest those involved. Al Muhairi said drug smugglers mostly try new smart techniques.

“They sometimes conceal drugs and other contraband in luggage, wallets, socks, handbags, clothes, shoes, inner guts, cigarettes, and even underwear, but our vigilant inspectors, who are trained and equipped with most 
sophisticated scanning devices, will always be ready for them.”


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