Dubai Customs seizes 500,000 Captagon tablets

posted on 06/08/2012: 915 views

Dubai Customs has intercepted a massive shipment of Captagon tablets, a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant, at Jebel Ali Port. Half a million of the pills were found in a shipping container, hidden inside 77 rolls of fabric, 7 Days, a Dubai-based English language daily said yesterday.

The newspaper quoted a customs spokesman as saying: "Captagon, which is one of the most dangerous types of chemical drugs, were seized.

"Officers became suspicious because some of the rolls of fabric seemed of higher density than others." Inspectors brought in dogs trained to sniff out drugs and found the 500,000 pills.

The container had come from an Arab country and was en route to an unnamed neighbouring country of the UAE.

The drug, Fenethylline, most commonly known by its Captagon trademark, is one of the most popular drugs of abuse in the Middle East, according to the United Nations.

A Dubai Customs spokesman said: "Smuggling gangs exploit the geographical location of the emirate of Dubai, increasing the responsibility of Dubai Customs as a first line of protection for society." Dubai Customs also announced that during the second quarter of 2012 it intercepted 91 million Tramadol tablets at Jebel Ali Port. All of the pills had arrived from an Asian country. – Emirates News Agency, WAM

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