Dubai new drug capital

Press, 24 April 1986, Page 12

Dubai new drug capital

By Philip Shehadi of Reuters in Dubai Authorities are cracking down on a key link in the chain of drug traffic to Europe — Dubai, a long-time smugglers’ paradise in 1 the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). With sea and air connections to major European cities, Dubai is a thriving go-between in the drug trade from the poppy fields of the “golden crescent" of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to Western consumers. “Our problem is being so close to the main producing countries,” says one of Dubai’s drug squad, Lieutenant-Colonel Abdul Aziz Muhammad. Abdullah.. “We get hashish: and heroin from Pakistan and India, .hashish from Lebanon' and Afghanistan, opium from Iran ... the quanities are increasing day by day.” Police surveillance is. increasing too, and the U.A.E. is imposing harsher penalties;s including the death penalty for organised drug trafficking. Last year, Dubai police seized a record 1.2 tonnes of narcotics, nearly all hashish, compared with 815 kilograms in 1984 and just 43 kilograms in 1982. Already this year police have seized nearly three tonnes — 2.5 tonnes in a single haul of hashish. Abdul Aziz says 50 people were arrested last year on drug smuggling charges. Most were Pakistanis, but the number included eight U.A.E. nationals. Many of the smugglers are established traders using legitimate import businesses as cover. Others come from the ranks of immigrant labourers who crowd the city’s souk (market) and ports. Thirty hours by boat from .Pakistan and eight hours from Iran, Dubai has for many years been a busy centre for reexporting gold and consumer goods to Iran and the Indian subcontinent. The free-enterprise tradition, lax laws, and cosmopolitan culture have made it a haven for smugglers. These days, however, smuggling methods are changing. Once wooden dhow sailboats were the favourite form of transport. Now smugglers hide the drugs in modern container ships. Dubai’s biggest drug bust last year involved a tonne of hashish smuggled in a container full of Pakistani rice. cartons. This year’s 2.5-tonne haul also arrived by container, hidden by shoes and metal piping.