Given our relatively crime-free society, it would be easy to imagine that drugs pose no threat to us. But as The National reported yesterday, international drug smuggling networks are increasingly using our country – and region – as a gateway to distribute narcotics across the region and beyond.
The reason is clear: the UAE is a global hub for air travel and therefore a target for cartels wanting to transport drugs to Europe, the United States and rest of the world. Borders in other parts of the region that have been torn asunder by conflict and political turmoil only serve to exacerbate the problem.
Customs authorities have used intelligence, guile and advanced technologies to crack down on regional drug dealers. Effective communication and cooperation with other agencies, including Interpol, has allowed for the timely exchange of crime-related information.
Over the past few months, the authorities have engaged in a series of operations, uncovering networks of organised crime in the region and smashed an $18 million smuggling network recently, as The National reported.
Intelligence-sharing is especially critical with customs and law enforcement agencies in the countries where drugs are known to be grown and manufactured. Seaports and airports of origin in, say, Karachi and Islamabad, are used as exit-points by drug cartels operating on trafficking routes that transit through the GCC.
In 2016, the UAE issued an anti-drug law to ensure such crimes committed on its soil do not go unpunished. Authorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries where narcotics networks operate must be ready to work with the international community, to help identify the sources of supply and manufacture. These countries should follow suit and impose tighter controls at their airports and seaports, to start becoming part of the solution, and put an end to this influx.
