Dubai Police arrested four Arabs for smuggling over 10 lakh captagon pills, worth over Rs 100 crore.
The accused were apprehended as they attempted to smuggle the narcotic pills in a refrigerated container disguised as lemons. The refrigerator contained 3,840 boxes of lemons, 66 of which had fake lemons containing the pills.
Operation “66” took place after the police received a tip-off on an international drug syndicate attempting to smuggle a shipment of drugs arriving from an Arab country, in a refrigerated container of fruits and vegetables.
“Upon confirming the fact that the narcotic pills were hidden in fake lemons in a shipment of lemons inside an incoming refrigerated container, we made sure all suspects involved were apprehended and brought to justice by closely monitoring the first accused who received the shipment, drove it into the emirate and eventually led us to the remaining three suspects,” said Major-general Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri.
Al Mansouri explained that a task force was formed to coordinate with Dubai Customs upon receiving the security tip. It was verified by inspecting incoming refrigerated containers.
Dubai’s anti-narcotics team tracked the refrigerator that was being transferred from the port into the country, by an accused to another location where two other suspects helped him unload the cargo and shifted it to a larger refrigerator.
The next day one of the accused attempted to rearrange the fake and real lemons, while one stood guard.
“As soon as the first suspect got out of the refrigerator, a task force apprehended him along with the fourth suspect. Meanwhile, the second and third suspects were arrested by a different task force who were closely monitoring their movements,” said Brigadier Eid Muhammad Hareb, director of the General Department for Anti-narcotics, reported by Khaleej Times.