Sharjah Customs foils attempt to smuggle huge haul of drugs during Eid al-Adha

The Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority revealed that customs officials have managed to thwart an attempt to smuggle a huge haul of drugs – about 93 kilograms of crystal meth and 3,000 methadone tablets – into the country.

The drugs were concealed under a container carrying foodstuffs coming from one of the neighboring countries, the Authority said in a statement on Thursday.

When checking the container upon its late arrival during the Eid al-Adha holidays, customs officials found out that goods were kept in a suspicious manner inside the container.

Officials discovered the drugs meticulously concealed inside iron cylinders. The drugs were then seized in coordination with the concerned authorities.

Earlier this year Dubai Customs announced it had seized 56 kilograms worth of illegal drugs from airports including 11.9 kilograms of marijuana and 9.6 kilograms of cocaine between January and the end of March 2021.

Illicit pills totaling 3,951 were confiscated over the same period, and the airports’ Passenger Operations Department completed 8,900 customs declarations.

Four million bags and two million passengers passed through airports in the emirate in that time, according to the United Arab Emirates’ official news agency WAM.

A total of 294 seizures were made, 24 relating to customs violations and 180 for criminal matters.