A shipment of 75,000 drug capsules worth Dh104 million was seized by police on Thursday.
Operation Secret Compartments took place at Al Ghuwaifat border crossing and was carried out by Abu Dhabi and Dubai Police in cooperation with Al Ghuwaifat customs officers.
Police arrested a Gulf national suspected of being involved in trafficking the drugs in a four-wheel drive. Capsules were found in the vehicle.
The arrest was made after police received a tip-off that a shipment was to be moved outside of the country, said Col Sultan Al Darmaki, head of the anti-narcotics section at Abu Dhabi Police.
Alcohol was also found in the car, which was being driven by 27-year-old F J F.
The suspect confessed to meeting a drug dealer, who lives outside the UAE, to organise moving the drugs in exchange for money.
Col Dr Rashid Bursheed, director of CID for Abu Dhabi Police, said the success of the operation followed that of a series of similar investigations led by Abu Dhabi Police, the last of which was Operation Wooden Doors. In the latter operation in October, police arrested a group of drug smugglers in possession of 4.5 million narcotic pills, with an estimated street value of Dh250m.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
