Dubai Customs inspectors have intercepted a bid to smuggle 3.4 kg of cocaine, concealed inside the clothes of a passenger coming from a South American country.
Ali Al Mugahwi, Director of Airport Operations Department at Dubai Customs, expound on the details of the seizure which took place at Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3. He said that the passenger raised the suspicions of an inspector as he approached the customs checkpoint. The officer noticed that the passenger was trying to mingle with other passengers and take advantage of the traffic at the checkpoint to pass unnoticed. When he finally arrived at the checkpoint, the inspector asked him if he was carrying anything that must be declared. He denied.
Being trained to read and analyse body language, the inspector saw signs that indicated the passenger was carrying a prohibited substance. He referred the passenger’s bags for manual inspection, but nothing suspicious was found. However, the vigilant inspector could notice that some of the shirts weighed more than they should. Looking closer at one of the bags, he intuitively assumed that it might be loaded with narcotics. He immediately called in the Al Kashif vehicle, recently invented by Dubai Customs. The shirts were analysed by the detection device, which showed that they contain pure cocaine weighing 3.4 kg, worth of AED 5 million.
Al Kashif vehicle is deployed at the airport to examine suspecious materials found in the passengers’ baggage, as well as any medications in their possession. Since it was in use by the end of 2013, Al Kashif has helped accelerate and streamline passengers’ clearance procedures, as well as protect the country against bids at smuggling narcotics.
Al Magahwi added that the passenger interrogated by investigators of the Passenger Investigation Office at the Airport Operations Department. Questioned about the cocaine found in his possession, he confessed to being handed the narcotics in a South American airport. The plan was that he would deliver the cocaine to someone in the UAE, in exchange of a certain sum of money.
As a routine procedure, the smuggler, seizure report and seized narcotics were handed over to the General Department of Anti-Narcotics at Dubai Police for further action.