SHARJAH // The Ministry of Interior foiled two attempts to smuggle 125,500 psychotropic pills in Sharjah last month.
Around 45,500 psychotropic pills were seized in Sharjah Creek on a boat coming from abroad and 80,000 pills were seized at a border crossing in Dibba Al Hisn.
Colonel Saeed Abdullah Al Suwaidi, director general of the Federal Anti-Narcotics Department (FAND), said that it received a tip-off that a drug dealer was planning to smuggle pills on the boat and officers managed to thwart the attempt and seized the drugs.
Investigations found that the drugs belonged to a member of the crew who was tasked with smuggling it to the UAE and the man was going to deliver them to a third part of the same nationality - who in turn would give it to other people to distribute.
The operation was a joint effort between the FAND and the Anti-Narcotics Department at Sharjah Police.
In the second attempt, the police received a tip-off that there was a gang involved in smuggling drugs into the UAE from neighboring countries through border crossings in Dibba Al Hisn in Sharjah.
An anti-narcotics team which was formed from the FAND, Sharjah Police and Dubai Police joined efforts with an anti-narcotics team from the Sultanate of Oman to arrest three Asian suspects and seize 80,000 synthetic pills.
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