In one incident, officers found over 25 kg of marijuana hidden in loudspeakers
Dubai Customs prevented 922 smuggling attempts in the first nine months of 2018, including 355 attempts to smuggle narcotics and contraband.
“We facilitate trade and traffic of passengers without compromising security of borders and entry points, and with a growing number of passengers and air shipping size in the last years we continue to have full control on all our checkpoints,” said Ahmed Mehboob Masabih, director of Dubai Customs.
Among the smuggling plots foiled by customs officials was an attempt to smuggle over 25 kilograms of marijuana inside loudspeakers in a passenger’s suitcase.
In another incident, inspection officers uncovered 6,720 Lyrica pills concealed in bags containing nuts.
“There are challenges facing customs authorities in countries that have strategic locations. Dubai is not an exception,” Musabih added, noting that Dubai has spent billions of dirhams to develop its infrastructure, ports and airports.
“The emirate has also provided an unprecedented host of services and products including the iDeclare application which significantly reduces passengers’ time needed to declare different belongings,” he added.
“These advanced services will facilitate passengers’ entry into the country, especially for visitors of Expo 2020.”
Ibrahim Al Kamali, the director of passenger operations at Dubai Customs, said that the entity’s passenger operations department checked around 30.2 million suitcases between January and September 2018.
“Around 74.5 million passengers used the airport in the first ten months of 2018, which means 248,000 passengers a day,” he said. “These passengers hail from different backgrounds, and they all deserve a good and warm welcome.”
Al Kamali added that in the first nine months of 2018, officers detected three counterfeiting and 275 duties evasion cases.
“Thanks to our inspectors’ vigilance we are in full control of all checkpoints,” he said. “Our inspection officers receive the best training on body language and different types of drugs and how to distinguish fake brands from genuine ones.”
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