Dubai police seize 55.8kg stash of hashish bound for Iran

Dubai police have seized 55.8kgs of hashish en route to Dubai from Iran.

Major General Abdulal Jalil Mahdi, director general of the anti-narcotics department, said officers working on a "reliable tip-off" put an area of Dubai Creek under surveillance and arrested an Iranian skipper who they watched dump two sacks on the quayside.

He said the skipper initially seemed confused as to where to dump the sacks, but ended up leaving them in the middle of a consignment of boxes where they were supposed to be picked up by an accomplice.

The skipper was then arrested.

When interrogated over the source of the narcotics, the skipper told investigators he had received a telephone call from an Iranian living abroad asking him to deliver the sacks to a third man in Dubai.

The skipper confessed to entering the country illegally and consuming methadone, a synthetic opioid.

Maj Gen Mahdi said the skipper would face charges of peddling and consuming drugs and psychotropic substances.