Fake stamps lead to drug arrest

Britain thanks the UAE after Dubai Customs helps British police arrest a suspected drug dealer after intercepting a parcel.

The parcel was discovered by an inspector at Dubai Cargo Village.

DUBAI // A package of forged official rubber stamps intercepted by Dubai Customs has helped British police to arrest a suspected drug dealer.

The stamps, bearing the insignia of the British High Commission in Dhaka, were spotted by customs inspectors at the Dubai airport cargo village.

Other stamps purporting to be of the Bangladeshi High Commission in London and Cellmark, the British DNA testing firm that undertakes testing for UK visas, were also seized.

Omar Al Muhairi, senior manager of air cargo operations at Dubai Customs, said they helped British authorities to capture a suspected drug dealer in the UK. "The parcel was sent to him from an Asian country through Dubai," he said. The 24 rubber stamps were destined to be used in Britain for illicit purposes including faking residency documents and forging documents to smuggle drugs, he added.

The information was passed to British police, who arrested the man to whom the package was addressed.

His home was raided, and cannabis plants and other paraphernalia found, according to Abdulla Salem Al Shaer, director of the intelligence department at Dubai Customs.

He added that Dubai Customs had received a note of thanks from the British Embassy in Dubai for their part in the arrest.