Dubai, September 30: Dubai Police have arrested hundreds of bootlegging gangs and seized more than 100 tonnes of alcohol since the beginning of the year, a senior police officer said.
The crackdown on the illegal syndication of alcohol has been attributed by the police to a 42 per cent drop in serious crimes, including murder, in the first half of the current year, compared to the same period in the year 2008.
Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Director of General Department of Criminal Investigation, said 500 gangs illegally selling alcohol were arrested during the first half of the year.
“The arrest of the gangs has led to a drop in serious crime cases, including murder, by about half, as smuggling and selling of alcohol lead to theft and murder,” Al Mansouri said.
Many of the arrests and seizures were made in Jebel Ali and Al Quoz, where most of the crimes occur, around labour accommodation facilities.
A Jebel Ali Police team, dedicated to tackling bootlegging, seized 103 tonnes of alcohol since the start of the year — 13 tonnes in Ramadan alone.
–Agencies