Dubai Customs seize Dh47.5m worth of drugs at Hamriya Port

Illegal shipment tracked by officers and drugs sniffed out by police dogs

More than 76kg of crystal meth and hashish were found hidden inside a shipping container at Hamriya Port, Dubai. Dubai Customs

Dubai Customs officers seized Dh47.5 million worth of drugs from a shipping container at Hamriya Port.

On Saturday, officers said they uncovered about 30 kilograms of crystal meth and 46kg of hashish that were “skilfully stashed” in the container.

Ibrahim Kamali, acting executive director of Customs Inspection Division, said they received intelligence on the suspicious shipment as it was headed to the emirate.

It was flagged as high risk by their Risk Engine system and the shipment was tracked.

On arrival at Hamriya Customs Centre, inspection officers scanned it from the outside.

It was found to have “abnormal density” so a team of K-9 sniffer dogs was sent in.

The on-site mobile laboratory screened the recovered contraband for drugs and the test result was positive.

Dubai Customs had recently stepped up efforts to counter drug smuggling attempts by “raising alertness levels of its teams and enhancing the efficiency of control and inspection operations at various points of entry,” Mr Kamali said.

“Our strong customs intelligence along with the use of advanced scanning equipment and inspection technologies have been instrumental to deterring several drug trafficking attempts,” he said.

In November last year, Dubai Customs officers foiled an attempt to smuggle 662kg of drugs onboard a dhow at Creek Customs and and Deira Wharfage, the biggest haul seized along the coastal border.

What is Risk Engine?

Risk Engine is a smart system, developed entirely in-house, used by Dubai Customs to expose attempts to smuggle contraband into the emirate.

It filters all data on customs declarations of consignments and people.

The system is managed by Dubai Customs Intelligence Department, and is used to profile and analyse data to identify risks and intercept suspected consignments, state news agency Wam said.