AJMAN // Police have smashed a major narcotics operation after seizing millions of psychoactive pills valued at Dh200 million stored at a warehouse in the emirate.
Five Arab men were arrested in the raid, in Al Jurf, in which 4.5 million Captagon tablets were seized.
The men have been charged with intent to sell and promote illegal drugs.
Ajman Police said this was one of their most successful drug busts and was orchestrated with Dubai Police.
Dubai Police told their Ajman colleagues that the five men were the biggest drug traders in the country.
“The investigation team found that one of the suspects had a previous case and had been sentenced to deportation, but had managed to re-enter the country under another name and papers,” said Col Saeed Nasser, Ajman Police’s director of drug enforcement.
The pills were brought into the emirates through a seaport, he said.
Captagon is one of the most commonly abused drugs in the Middle East, with effects similar to those of amphetamines.
Some of the drugs were found in luggage belonging to the men at their apartment in Ajman, while large amounts were hidden in rolls of fabric in plastic bags at the warehouse.
Smugglers have many ways of bringing illegal items into the country through transit points that handle millions of containers, which cannot all be inspected, according to Sheikh Sultan Al Nuaimi, general commander of Ajman Police.
Officers consequently have to work hard on gathering information about smuggling activities and focus on suspicious shipments from abroad to catch gangs of smugglers, he said.
The five men have been referred to prosecutors to face trial.
roueiti@thenational.ae
