The police in the Emirates have arrested a man after he attempted to smuggle 4.5 million Captagon tablets hidden inside food bins.
The suspect, whose identity was not disclosed by the police, was busted after authorities received a tipoff about his intentions and arrested him following a monitoring operation.
He was reportedly planning to smuggle the highly addictive amphetamine fenethylline pills, known by the brand name Captagon, into a neighbouring country, Abu Dhabi police claimed.
Additionally, he had already completed the necessary import paperwork when officers found the drugs inside tins labelled as green beans.
After his arrest, the Head of the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of the Criminal Security Sector of Abu Dhabi Police, General Tahir Gharib Al-Dahiri, revealed that the operation was successful.
He added that the arrest followed a secret surveillance operation which led to police raiding a warehouse in an undisclosed location.
Abu Dhabi Police said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “He [Al-Dahiri] added that the professionalism of the control elements resulted in the failure of the accused’s scheme and confiscation of approximately 4.5 million Captagon pills and the tools used in preparing and packaging of narcotics for trade and promotion.”
Police did not disclose the value of the drug, but it was estimated at between USD 60 million (GBP 50 million) and USD 100 million (GBP 84 million) based on data from the International Addiction Review journal.
The drug has been reported to be a central nervous system (CNS) stimulator with stronger and longer-lasting effects on fighting aggression, detachment, cognitive enhancement, and alertness.
It has increasingly become the drug of choice among youth in Gulf Arab states after it gained fame when it was used and traded by Islamic State fighters in the mid-2010s.
