Almost 400,000 Tramadol pills trafficked into the UAE last year

Nearly 400,000 packages of illegal Iranian Tramadol painkillers were seized in the UAE last year. Courtesy Dubai Customs

DUBAI // Iranian Tramadol painkillers were the most common illegal medication smuggled into the UAE last year.

Of all drugs trafficked into the country, 395,839 packages contained Iranian Tramadol, whereas 231,397 contained other drugs used in pharmacies. The contraband was mainly brought into the UAE via boats.

Of all medications smuggled into the UAE, more than half had expired or were no longer fit for use because of the way they had been transported.

Col Saeed Al Suwaidi of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) called for further cooperation between police departments, the MoI and the Ministry of Health (MoH) to keep illegal and counterfeit drugs out of the UAE.

“This country is always open for new ideas that will help to improve in this important area,” he said.

“We are facing a real challenge and that is made more difficult as there are certain requirements to be able to provide these medicines for human use.”

In one seizure, 30,000 Tramadol tablets were found hidden in sand and carried into the country before being confiscated by the MoI.

“I have no doubt this is not an effective way to transport medicine, regardless of whether it is branded or counterfeit,” Col Al Suwaidi said.

“It is not the correct way to transport medicines. In the bottom of a wooden ship next to very warm engines will not keep the medicine in a safe condition.

“All the shipments seized are sent to the jury of prosecution where a committee will destroy all of the seized shipments in accordance with standards of the MoH.

“There should be a mechanism under the control of the MoH to destroy the shipments recovered under a new declaration to have a standardised method adopted to test the products to check if they are counterfeit and then destroy them in the right way.”