UAE tip-off: Police foil huge drug smuggling attempt

Manama : Bahrain’s Anti-Narcotics Department has foiled a major drug smuggling attempt after a vital tip-off received from the UAE intelligence agencies.   

According to a report by Interior Ministry, agencies here were alerted to the drug smuggling attempt prompting an escalation of security measures in the Kingdom. 

The involvement of UAE authorities in busting the crime network in the Kingdom came to light following a report published by the Interior Ministry’s Al Amn. 

The report said that police action resulted in arresting the suspects red-handed during a raid. Officers also seized one kilogram of drugs from the suspects who were attempting to deliver the consignment to an accomplice here in Bahrain. 

Forty-four capsules, containing 363 grams of a narcotic substance, thought to be heroin, with an estimated street value of BD36,300, were seized from him. 

In addition, the suspect was found to be in possession of a plastic box containing 575 grams of narcotic substances estimated to be worth BD97,000.

The operation was jointly handled by Bahrain’s Anti-Narcotics Department at the General Directorate of Investigation and Criminal Evidence along with their UAE counterparts. 

Public Prosecution issued arrest warrants after the special investigation team formed tracked the suspect’s movements and the phone calls made in coordination with the UAE drug control authorities.

An undercover policeman contacted the suspect posing as a drug dealer from UAE with “drugs to be handed over,” the report stated.

“The suspect, after some convincing and a few phone calls, agreed to receive the contraband near one of Bahrain’s large commercial complexes. 

“When the suspect arrived at the pre-designated pot, he was apprehended by the officers, even though he made a desperate attempt to escape,” the report added. 

The suspect, an Asian man, according to Al Amn report, told the investigators that his accomplice in Bahrain regularly received such consignments from other sources and sold it in small quantities within the country.

He was later produced before the Public Prosecution and was taken into custody. The authorities also sanctioned an examination of his mobile phones and memory cards. 

Officials said the success of the operation showed the high level of co-operation between the regional countries.