Dh1 billion drug haul seized by Dubai Customs

Dubai Customs has foiled an attempt to smuggle 91 million Tramadol tablets worth Dh1 billion into the UAE.

The huge quantity of the drug was found in Jebel Ali Port and Jebel Ali Free Zone hidden in 1,695 cartons inside six containers - four 40-square-foot and two 20-square-foot containers coming from an Asian country.

Saeed Ahmed Al Tayer, Senior Director of Jebel Ali Cargo Operations Department, said a company operating at Jebel Ali Free Zone had been under watch. The company had declared the imported goods as cosmetics and medical instruments to the Customs Department.

A sample of the seized drug was sent to the Ministry of Health which confirmed it as Tramadol, an opiate not permitted to be used without medical prescription.

The trading company was not licensed to import pharmaceuticals. Also, it had not obtained a permit to import the drug and did not have a licence to set up a medical warehouse.

Tramadol can generate effects similar to those of cocaine and leads to addiction which forces the addict to increase the dosage to get the desired effect. This, in turn, can lead to heart attacks and death. Overdosing can also cause breathing difficulties, drowsiness, dizziness, skin rash, tingling, sleep, coma, uncontrollable shaking of part of body, nausea, hallucinations, heart attack and death. Other symptoms of overdose also include decreased size of the eye pupil, vomiting and chills.

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