Dubai Customs Seize 37kg Of Marijuana At DXB

The Dubai International Airport (DXB) customs officers have seized 37 kilograms of Marijuana from an African traveler. He was carrying the drugs in two bags and it was concealed within food items. The customs officers found a disparity in the densities of the bags and this suspicion led to a full-fledged search in the presence of the accused.

After X-raying the African traveler’s luggage, inspectors became suspicious

The first bag had seventeen kilograms of marijuana and the second one had twenty kilograms. Ibrahim Kamali, Dubai customs director said that they are proud of being able to protect their nation from illegal contrabands. The Dubai customs are the foremost protectors of the Dubai borders and they stop the flow of dangerous drugs into the Emirates.

Kamali said that the customs inspectors of Dubai are the best in the world because of their skills and competence. As part of the 2021-26 vision, Dubai customs aims to become the leading customs department around the world.

The accused was trying to hide the smell of the drug with the food items. But the highly trained Dubai customs inspectors can identify the body language, concealing techniques, etc. with their efficiency.

According to reports, around a thousand attempts to smuggle illegal drugs were thwarted by Dubai customs officials during the first four months of this year. The smuggling attempt was done for drugs like crystal meth, marijuana, opium, heroin, and Captagon pills. Six kilograms of cocaine was seized from a passenger in June.

The cocaine was cleverly concealed in peanut paste and another 5.6 kilograms of cocaine was caught from a Latin American woman in March. This time the woman had hidden the drugs in multiple places like a secret compartment in her bag, shampoo, and moisturizer bottles, etc.

In November, around half a kilo of marijuana was smuggled in small rolls stuffed inside pineapples. The officers found the passenger suspicious as they saw a box of pineapples coming from an African country.

The efforts to restrict the flow of narcotic substances into the UAE have been going on for decades and the Dubai customs has updated their strategies regularly to counter the tricks and methods of the smugglers. 

Apart from smuggling drugs and other hazardous items, UAE also reports illegal smuggling of animals to be used as pets. Cheetahs, Chimpanzees, rare species of fox, etc. are all smuggled through the sea and brought into the UAE. These animals are taken out of their native environments and domesticated in conditions that are not suitable for them. Cheetahs are smuggled from African nations to different parts of the Gulf and this is increasing the risk of their extinction.

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Back in 2000, a smuggled baby chimpanzee had been found in a house suffering from malnutrition. The owner had put up an advertisement for sale on which the officials got to know about the animal. An Indian family had purchased the animal from an illegal smuggler and it was caged for around eight months because the owners couldn’t obtain the Convention in International Trade of Endangered Species Certificate (CITES).

After almost 22 years of the incident, even today there are also instances of such illegal smuggling. Even though the customs department and animal protection groups were able to stop the activities to a great extent, it hasn’t been completely stopped. There is a wildlife center in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi, which has become a refuge for endangered species that had been smuggled into the UAE.

According to Kamali, smugglers resort to “strange methods” to hide the smell of the drugs like covering them in strong spices, food items, dried fish, and even in their own bodies.

The Dubai customs officers have undergone extensive training and attended specialized workshops to tackle these kinds of situations. Modern technologies and devices are also at their disposal to make the search process more effective.