SHARJAH // Police raided a warehouse after a surveillance operation discovered an illegal tobacco processing plant. Officers carrying out the weekend raid in Industrial Area 10 found large quantities of unlicensed tobacco and drums of liquids used in manufacturing tobacco products, police sources said yesterday. They arrested seven workers at the site, and referred the owner of the warehouse to the Public Prosecution Service on charges of operating an illegal tobacco plant.
A surveillance operation had earlier revealed suspicious behaviour at the site. "We raided the warehouse at night, searched it and found a lot of unlicensed tobacco with a few workers who were on night duty manufacturing at the time," said an official from the anti-narcotics department. He added that there was a foul smell coming from the plant which had been noticed by neighbours and referred to Sharjah Municipality's environmental and health sections.
Two of the workers found at the site were living here illegally and had no documents, the official said, and the owner was still to answer charges arising from those offences. ykakande@thenational.ae