Kuwaiti authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle nearly 364kg of Captagon into the country through Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait City, the Interior Ministry has said.
Five suspects were arrested after security forces, acting on confidential intelligence, tracked a shipment of glass panels concealing the drugs. The haul was valued at about 5.5 million Kuwaiti dinars ($18 million), the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said a co-ordinated operation between the General Department of Criminal Investigation and the General Administration of Customs allowed officers to monitor the lorry carrying the shipment from the port until it reached a smaller storage area, where the suspects were arrested.
Authorities identified the main suspect and detained the others at the scene. The drugs and those arrested were referred to prosecutors for legal action.
The ministry said the operation highlighted continued co-operation between security agencies to combat narcotics and prevent their entry into Kuwait.
Gulf states have increasingly stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of narcotics through the region. Located at the crossroads of major drug trafficking routes linking Asia, Africa and Europe, countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman have invested heavily in border security, advanced surveillance technology and co-ordinated intelligence operations.
In August, Dubai Police thwarted a criminal gang trying to smuggle almost 90,000 Captagon tablets hidden in the buttons of clothes. Under the operation, carried out with the co-operation of authorities in Saudi Arabia, police raided the premises of the gang and discovered the capsules concealed inside the buttons.
