The anti-narcotics team of the Sharjah Police has seized 153kg of drugs estimated to be worth Dh63 million in a large operation that arrested dozens of suppliers and peddlers. The drugs were hidden in trolleys, plastic bags, metal canisters, concealed in dhows and within air-conditioning ducts and water dispensers in residential villas. Police were alerted after a man was arrested with a plastic bag filled with narcotics in a Sharjah neighbourhood. Surveillance tracked how gang members smuggled the banned substances as they entered the country through the airport and via dhows and boats. Armed officers in bullet-proof vests raided a villa where they found stashes of drugs and arrested the kingpin. “The head of the gang had turned a residential villa into a drug-producing laboratory,” the Sharjah Police said. “All members of the gang were arrested according to plan.” The drugs were also exchanged by gang members who met in car parks to offload the contraband. Police have arrested 58 men and traced seven bank accounts used to funnel drug money. The banned substances included 69 litres of liquid crystal. There have been several major drug hauls this year. <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/1-2-million-pills-seized-and-seven-arrested-in-major-abu-dhabi-drugs-bust-1.1058990">Police in Abu Dhabi last month arrested seven members of a gang</a> and seized 1.2 million pills following a four-month investigation. Dubai Police watched a shipment for 15 days before seizing 5.7 tonnes of the amphetamine Captagon in February in the<a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/government/dubai-police-seize-six-tonnes-of-amphetamines-in-record-haul-1.978350"> biggest drug busts recorded </a>in the country. Authorities have asked the public to report any suspicious activity to the nearest police station.
