Dubai foils bid to smuggle $6.5m drugs haul

The UAE's Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday it had foiled a bid to smuggle a huge amount of drugs into Dubai. It said nine people had been arrested after the Ministry thwarted attempts to smuggle 131kg of crystal methamphetamine through a wooden launch. Lt General Saif Al Shafaar, Undersecretary of Ministry of Interior, said in comments published by state news agency WAM that the seized drugs had an estimated market value of more than AED24m ($6.55m). He said the UAE anti-narcotic departments shared intelligence with a neighbouring country to foil the smuggling attempt. He added that the operation led to apprehension of nine Asian smugglers, saying that they were planning to move the drug haul to other countries through hiding it inside refrigerator trucks. Earlier this month, the United Nations said drug control and crime prevention will remain a key concern for Arab countries in the future, with a rise in seizures of narcotics in the region between 2010 and 2011. Gulf states remain key destination markets for opium and psychotropic substances, while Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iran continue to be hot spots for drug manufacturing, the latest International Narcotics Control Board 2011 report showed.