DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Police in Dubai seized 86 million tablets of the amphetamine generally known as Captagon hidden in a cargo of doorways and ornamental constructing panels, authorities mentioned Thursday, estimating its avenue worth at simply over $1 billion.
The bust comes as gross sales of the amphetamine have turn into a Mideast-wide drawback throughout Syria’s lengthy battle.
A surveillance video launched by the Interior Ministry within the United Arab Emirates reveals suspects making an attempt to convey the Captagon tablets by Dubai’s huge Jebel Ali Port. They have been hidden in 5 delivery containers of doorways and panels, with the medicine themselves weighing over 13 tons, authorities mentioned.
The UAE “stands as an impenetrable fortress against any threat aimed at jeopardizing the security and well-being of the Emirati society,” Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan mentioned in an announcement.
Authorities didn’t establish the arrested suspects however described their operation as an “international criminal organization,” with out saying the supply of the medicine. A Dubai police anti-narcotics official, Maj. Gen. Eid Mohammed Thani Hareb, mentioned the medicine have been to be transferred to an unidentified third nation.
The worth of the seizure given by authorities put the value of a tablet at practically $12. Costs might be as excessive as $25 a tablet in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Syria has turn into the world’s main trafficker of Captagon, a extremely addictive amphetamine, through the battle. Hundreds of thousands and thousands of tablets have been smuggled over time into Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and different Gulf Arab nations, the place the drug is used recreationally and by individuals with bodily demanding jobs to maintain them alert.
The United States, Britain and European Union accuse Syrian President Bashar Assad, his household and allies, together with Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, of facilitating and taking advantage of the commerce. They say that has given Assad’s rule a large monetary lifeline at a time when the Syrian financial system is crumbling. The Syrian authorities and Hezbollah deny the accusations.
Gulf Arab nations, after backing rebels making an attempt to overthrow Assad initially of the battle, have since resumed diplomatic relations with Damascus. Analysts counsel that’s seemingly partly as a result of their efforts to stem the circulate of Captagon regionally.
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