Dubai Police foiled a plot to smuggle 130kg of the drug in wooden palettes through Jebel Ali Port.

Smugglers busted with heroin haul
Dubai cops seize huge $18m stash bound for Europe in Jebel Ali Port


Heroin with an estimated street value of Dhs65 million ($18m) has been discovered in Dubai on its way to Europe.

Dubai Police foiled a plot to smuggle 130kg of the drug in wooden palettes through Jebel Ali Port.

General Abdul Jalil Mahdi, head of the Anti-Narcotic Department in Dubai Police, said: “We received information from outside the country that a huge drug smuggling operation heading to Europe was coming through Dubai, hidden in a container from Pakistan. “The container was first shipped from Qasim port in Pakistan back in July, it then went to Oman, Morocco and Nigeria.

“For unknown reasons the owners then decided to return the container and it came to Jebel Ali Port,” he said.

“We X-rayed the cargo which showed it was clean, but we were still suspicious so searched it manually. One of our men found the drugs inside. It was expertly hidden.” Mahdi said the drugs were destined for Europe and Dubai-based officers are now working with Pakistani authorities to track down the gang behind the operation.

“This is an international gang. We are cooperating with Pakistani authorities to arrest the leaders. It is one of the biggest drug smuggling operations uncovered in Dubai this year,” he added.

Dubai Police said just two days before the heroin was discovered they had received information from Spanish authorities, who had thwarted a sizeable drugs operation in the same way. “The X-ray machines struggle to detect the heroin because iron filings were also packed in the shipments. This operation is a new achievement for Dubai Police in their war against drugs,” Mahdi added.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, two Pakistani men appeared at Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday where they denied smuggling heroin which was found in a shipment of onions. The court heard that the men allegedly concealed the narcotics in sacks of vegetables in a container, which came from Karachi to Jebel Ali Airport in Dubai.

The case was adjourned.