Sharjah police seize 2.5t hashish , arrest 12 Iranian national

SHARJAH: Sharjah Police, on Wednesday, busted an international gang comprising 12 Iranians and two Pakistanis, and thwarted their plans to smuggle  2,534kg of hashish into the country via the country’s eastern coast.

According to a senior police official at the Sharjah Police, the operation "Eastern Wind,” launched against these smugglers, which culminated in their arrest, was one of the biggest operations that foiled an attempt to smuggle in huge amounts of hashish into the country.

Sharjah Police in co-operation with their own Drugs Prevention Department and coast guard officials, succeeded in arresting the gang who were planning to smuggle the drugs through the Khorfakkan coast.

"In 1991, we had foiled an attempt of smuggling 3 tonnes of hashish through Khorfakkan. This year, in the late hours of Jan.26, we came across a big boat in which a huge quantity of smuggled hashish was packed in cooking flour bags. The 14 gangsters, who were on the boat at the time of the raid, attempted to evade arrest but we managed to cordon off the area and abort their plans of fleeing from the scene,” the official added.

The official explained that the police had recently received a tip-off that a huge quantity of illegal drugs would be smuggled into the country by an international gang who had been hiding the drugs in a boat in the UAE’s territorial waters and that they were looking for a serious buyer.

"After confirming this information, we immediately formed an investigation team from the Drugs Prevention Department, whose main mission was to come up with a detailed plan to arrest the offenders. One of our officials, posing as a potential buyer, contacted the head of the gang several times to arrive at a deal on purchase of the hashish after he managed to convince them that he was indeed a serious buyer. On the day of trading the hashish for cash, the boat was raided by the police and on searching it, a huge quantity of hashish was unearthed,” the official added.

The boat was then tugged to the UAE coast and the suspects confessed to their plans of promoting the drugs in the UAE and that in this regard, they were looking for a serious buyer.

Following the arrest of the gangsters, Major General Humaid Mohamed Al Hadidi, Police-in-Chief of Sharjah Police expressed pride in his men at the arrest of the offenders, whose main aim, he added, was to promote fatal drugs having the capacity to ruin society.

He also dedicated the success of the operation to His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah and to Lt. General Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister who together, have spared no efforts in offering guidance which successfully has enabled police officials in maintaining the safety of society while arresting law offenders found flouting the rules and jeopardising the safety and stability of the country and its youth.

SHARJAH: Sharjah Police, on Wednesday, busted an international gang comprising 12 Iranians and two Pakistanis, and thwarted their plans to smuggle  2,534kg of hashish into the country via the country’s eastern coast.

According to a senior police official at the Sharjah Police, the operation "Eastern Wind,” launched against these smugglers, which culminated in their arrest, was one of the biggest operations that foiled an attempt to smuggle in huge amounts of hashish into the country.

Sharjah Police in co-operation with their own Drugs Prevention Department and coast guard officials, succeeded in arresting the gang who were planning to smuggle the drugs through the Khorfakkan coast.

"In 1991, we had foiled an attempt of smuggling 3 tonnes of hashish through Khorfakkan. This year, in the late hours of Jan.26, we came across a big boat in which a huge quantity of smuggled hashish was packed in cooking flour bags. The 14 gangsters, who were on the boat at the time of the raid, attempted to evade arrest but we managed to cordon off the area and abort their plans of fleeing from the scene,” the official added.

The official explained that the police had recently received a tip-off that a huge quantity of illegal drugs would be smuggled into the country by an international gang who had been hiding the drugs in a boat in the UAE’s territorial waters and that they were looking for a serious buyer.

"After confirming this information, we immediately formed an investigation team from the Drugs Prevention Department, whose main mission was to come up with a detailed plan to arrest the offenders. One of our officials, posing as a potential buyer, contacted the head of the gang several times to arrive at a deal on purchase of the hashish after he managed to convince them that he was indeed a serious buyer. On the day of trading the hashish for cash, the boat was raided by the police and on searching it, a huge quantity of hashish was unearthed,” the official added.

The boat was then tugged to the UAE coast and the suspects confessed to their plans of promoting the drugs in the UAE and that in this regard, they were looking for a serious buyer.

Following the arrest of the gangsters, Major General Humaid Mohamed Al Hadidi, Police-in-Chief of Sharjah Police expressed pride in his men at the arrest of the offenders, whose main aim, he added, was to promote fatal drugs having the capacity to ruin society.

He also dedicated the success of the operation to His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah and to Lt. General Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister who together, have spared no efforts in offering guidance which successfully has enabled police officials in maintaining the safety of society while arresting law offenders found flouting the rules and jeopardising the safety and stability of the country and its youth.