Housewife held with 6,480 sleeping pills

The Abu Dhabi Police have arrested an Arab housewife with 6,480 sleeping pills meant for illegal distribution with a local market value of Dh300,000.

According to the General Headquarters of Abu Dhabi Police, the woman in her thirties identified as PPA, was arrested following a tip-off that she was involved in drug trafficking and was about to sell a huge quantity of these pills to addicts and targeting the youth of the country as her prospect buyers.

"After receiving the tip-off, we formed an investigating team to crack the case and arrested the women red-handed with efficient collaboration among team members. One of the team members acted as potential buyer to buy the drugs and arranged a meeting with the woman to strike a deal. And that is how we solved the case and arrested the woman with the drugs in her possession," said Lt Colonel Sultan Al Darmaki, Head of Anti-Narcotics at Crime Investigation Department at Abu Dhabi Police.

He added the drugs packed in several cartons were smuggled from outside the UAE for distribution and illegal sales. "The case has been solved and the woman has been referred for prosecution," he added.

Al Darmaki further said that during the investigation, she revealed another consignment of the similar drug was under way and was planning to sell them.

Al Darmaki advised residents to be cautious and keep an eye on such drug peddlers, especially at educational institutes and public places and inform the police when they information or suspect people peddling drugs.

"It is the duty of all of us, the police and the general public, to fight this menace. Narcotics kill and destroy societies, especially the young generation, so we all have to fight and eliminate it [from our country]," he advised.

The Abu Dhabi Police have recently intensified its efforts to curb the spread of narcotics with several successful operations, arresting a number of dealers and seizing huge quantity of drugs.

Under the UAE's penal codes, drug trafficking in huge quantity, with specific intention of trade and promotion, is punishable with up to death sentence.

A few months ago, the Abu Dhabi Police, in a joint operation with Sharjah Police, busted a gang involved in sleeping pills trade smuggled from Iran and Pakistan.

A huge quantity of the pills and opium was discovered from gang leader HH's hideouts in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. He was arrested in Sharjah while trying to strike deal with an undercover agent to sell thousands of pills. He targeted expatriates working in remote agriculture farms and frequently visited them to sell the drugs. In his possession, police also discovered a large number of ATM cards of these farmers along with their PIN codes.

According to a farmer in Al Ain, HH was a very shrewd culprit and destroyed the lives of hundreds poor workers in these isolated farms. "It was like he had contracts at most of the farms as he used to visit them every week to distribute the drugs. He has made many poor workers addicted to these pills and had taken their entire monthly incomes. People were so addicted that they gave their ATM cards to him with the authority to withdraw their salaries," said a farm worker, who says the culprit's arrest was a relief for the addicted workers.

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