Dubai Police seize nearly 100kg of heroin since January

DUBAI // Nearly 100 kilograms of heroin have been seized in Dubai in the first half of this year, more than double the amount seized in the same period last year.

“It is not exactly clear why there have been more heroin busts this year than the year before, it could be that the direction of the dealers has changed,” said Col Eid Hareb, the anti-narcotics director of Dubai Police.

“Maybe it is more lucrative for them to deal heroin than any other drug, like hashish, which was the most-seized last year.”

Of the 134kg of drugs seized, heroin comprised 98kg. Last year, of the 440kg of drugs seized between January and June, heroin made up 47.4kg, while hashish accounted for 309.6kg.

However, the police figures for this year do not include one of the biggest narcotics seizures at sea.

In April, the authorities – aided by the US consulate and coalition naval forces in the Indian Ocean – arrested a narcotics gang that was trying to transport more than 1,000kg of heroin from Asia to Africa.

On Sunday, a 26-year-old Pakistani man was fined Dh50,000 and sentenced to 10 years in jail for smuggling 850 grams of heroin in his stomach. Lt Col Juma Al Shamsi at the anti-narcotics department said heroin was not the drug of choice for most users in the emirate.

“We do not have a large number of people who use heroin in Dubai. Our biggest problem remains tramadol pills,” he said, adding that most drug seizures pertained to smuggling activities and that most of the heroin confiscated was in transit through Dubai.

“The emirate’s location is geographically very strategic and dealers attempt to use that to their advantage, and our airport is one of the busiest in the world.”