The passenger was carrying 53 capsules containing heroin and had swallowed 38 more. Photo: Delhi customs
The passenger was carrying 53 capsules containing heroin and had swallowed 38 more. Photo: Delhi customs
The passenger was carrying 53 capsules containing heroin and had swallowed 38 more. Photo: Delhi customs
The passenger was carrying 53 capsules containing heroin and had swallowed 38 more. Photo: Delhi customs

Ugandan passenger on Dubai flight caught with $1m of drugs at Delhi airport


Nick Webster
  • English
  • Arabic

An airline passenger who swallowed 38 capsules of heroin before boarding a flight in Dubai to India has been arrested at Delhi’s international airport.

The Ugandan passenger was stopped at Indira Gandhi International Airport by customs officials on January 15 and admitted to hospital under supervision.

During an initial search of the passenger, immigration officers found 53 capsules packed with heroin. The passenger passed a further 38 capsules of the drug under medical supervision over several days.

The 91 capsules in total contained 998 grams of heroin, with an estimated street value of about $940,000 (Dh3.4 million).

Smugglers caught attempting to bring illegal drugs into India face a prison term of up to 20 years.

India is wedged between the world’s two largest areas of illicit opium production - the Golden Crescent countries of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, and the Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

Annual seizures of heroin have declined in recent years in India, as other smuggling routes have become more popular.

However, in September Indian anti-smuggling intelligence officials intercepted close to three tonnes of heroin worth $2.7bn in a major operation at a port in Gujarat state.

War on Captagon: in pictures

  • According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, trafficking in amphetamines has increased in the Middle East in recent years. Photo: Dubai Customs
    According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, trafficking in amphetamines has increased in the Middle East in recent years. Photo: Dubai Customs
  • Specially trained K-9 units are often used by border forces to intercept shipments. EPA
    Specially trained K-9 units are often used by border forces to intercept shipments. EPA
  • Experts believe the amount intercepted accounts for only around a tenth of the total quantity of pills being smuggled out of places like Syria and Jordan. EPA
    Experts believe the amount intercepted accounts for only around a tenth of the total quantity of pills being smuggled out of places like Syria and Jordan. EPA
  • Dubai Customs thwarted 398 attempts to smuggle drugs into the city in the first three months of this year. Photo: Dubai Customs
    Dubai Customs thwarted 398 attempts to smuggle drugs into the city in the first three months of this year. Photo: Dubai Customs
  • Captagon pills on display after being seized in Greece in 2019. EPA
    Captagon pills on display after being seized in Greece in 2019. EPA
  • Captagon became synonymous with the Syrian Civil War. AFP
    Captagon became synonymous with the Syrian Civil War. AFP
  • The small, off-white pills have quickly become one of the most widely consumed drugs in the Middle East. EPA
    The small, off-white pills have quickly become one of the most widely consumed drugs in the Middle East. EPA
  • Millions of Captagon pills are seized around the world each year. EPA
    Millions of Captagon pills are seized around the world each year. EPA
  • Captagon pills on display after a major interception of a shipment in 2009. Nicole Hill / The National
    Captagon pills on display after a major interception of a shipment in 2009. Nicole Hill / The National
  • Customs officers say Captagon smugglers prefer to use sea ports rather than airports because of the size of shipping containers, enabling them to conceal larger quantities of drugs. Photo: Dubai Customs
    Customs officers say Captagon smugglers prefer to use sea ports rather than airports because of the size of shipping containers, enabling them to conceal larger quantities of drugs. Photo: Dubai Customs
'The Sky is Everywhere'

Director:Josephine Decker

Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon

Rating:2/5

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence 

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE

The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Airev
Started: September 2023
Founder: Muhammad Khalid
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Generative AI
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
 
The specs

Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre

Power: 325hp

Torque: 500Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh189,700

On sale: now

Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others

Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.

As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.

Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.

“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”

Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.

“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”

Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.

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Company%20profile
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Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

While you're here
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline

Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.

When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.

Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.

Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.

“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.

Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.

“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.

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Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: AgriTech

Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs 

Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

Updated: January 24, 2022, 9:56 AM