Three members of a gang who intended to sell crystal meth on the streets of Dubai and Sharjah were arrested. Dubai Police said officers from its anti-narcotics unit seized 33 kilograms of the synthetic drug in a co-ordinated raid with Sharjah Police. Officers revealed only a handful of details about the operation, which led to the arrests of three Asian men. They said drugs were smuggled into the country and stashed in a warehouse in Dubai, and were later taken across the border to Sharjah. In a video of the arrests, the force said it would “strike with an iron fist whoever dares to mess with the nation’s security”. “Our officers in co-operation with Sharjah Police, arrested an international drug gang,” said Lt Gen Abdullah Al Merri, head of Dubai Police. “The operation – called Step By Step – aims to foil drug lords’ activities inside the UAE.” Brigadier Eid Thani Hareb, head of the anti-drug unit, said two suspects were paid Dh22,000 ($5,990) to deliver the shipment, while a third was given Dh3,500 for a delivery. In the first six months of 2020, Dubai Police seized 712kg of drugs and arrested 1,176 suspects. The authorities also shut down 39 websites and web pages used for selling drugs. Among the substances seized was cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, opium, marijuana and banned painkillers. In 2019, 1.5 tonnes of drugs worth Dh1.5 billion were seized and 3,128 people were arrested. In the US, meth-related overdoses are now twice those of heroin, and because the drug is “cooked” instead of cultivated in fields, the price is kept dangerously low. It is estimated there that a gram – enough for about four “hits” – costs between $20 (Dh73) and $60.
