13 tonnes of amphetamine tablets hidden inside furniture have been discovered by police in the United Arab Emirates.
Officers were alerted to a suspicious-looking shipping container, which led to the discovery of Captagon drugs valued more than $1bn. In a video, Dubai police can be seen breaking apart wooden doors and panels that conceal 86 million pills.
Captagon, known as “the poor man’s cocaine,” is apparently one of the most often used narcotics among young people in the Gulf. It is said to be produced in significant amounts in Syria, yet the police did not mention this while discussing the likely origin of the unlawful consignment.
Armed factions provided the substance, which is extremely addictive and frequently contains caffeine, to combatants at the height of the nation’s civil war to increase their performance.
Many civilians in Syria are alleged to have been driven into the lucrative but illegal Captagon trade as a result of their growing poverty.
Despite denials from the Syrian government, publications have connected influential military and commercial people to the production and sale of Captagon.
In a significant operation, the 13 tonnes of tablets were found in five shipping containers, according to Dubai police. Officers who were shown in the video footage tracing the containers, keeping an eye on the suspects, and removing 651 doors and 432 wooden panels to access to the drugs.
The narcotics will be transported from the UAE to another country by an international gang, according to Maj Gen Eid Mohammed Thani Hareb, head of the police’s anti-narcotics department.
He stated that a police dog squad and X-ray equipment also assisted in locating the haul. The operation resulted in the arrest of six persons.
The operation is said to be one of the largest such hauls ever intercepted.
In Italy, 14 tonnes of Captagon tablets were found concealed in paper drums and gear wheels in 2020, while in Saudi Arabia, 46 million amphetamine pills were discovered in a shipment of wheat last year.
