More than 20.08 million Captagon pills worth Dh1.02bn seized in Abu Dhabi

Powerful drugs used by ISIS fighters for ‘chemical courage’ have been seized in record numbers with Abu Dhabi Police intercepting amphetamines worth more than Dh1 billion.

The latest police report showed enforcement officers seized 20.08 million Captagon pills worth Dh1.02 bn in 2017.

Officers hailed the latest detection technology and artificial intelligence as playing a crucial role in gathering evidence to help secure prosecutions.

Of all recorded criminal cases in the emirate last year and in collaboration with the Forensic Evidence Department, police said 61,595 samples were collected to aid investigations.

Marc Martinez, senior ­analyst at The Delma Institute, an Abu Dhabi think tank, said the annual figure was surprisingly low, that could suggest drug traffickers are avoiding the capital due to improved detection methods.

“Because of its port and airport infrastructure, the UAE is seen as a major hub for drug trafficking,” he said.

“The UAE is hours away from Afghanistan where 90 per cent of the world opium is produced, and from Syria where Captagon has been produced to finance the activities of multiple terrorist and criminal organisations.

“Captagon is rarely used in the UAE, but the country is the entry point toward the European and US markets.

“It is also the entry point toward one of the drug’s largest markets: Saudi Arabia.”

The UAE is on the front line of the war against drugs. According to the Delma Institute, security forces seized 12 million pills in 2015 and 33 million in 2014; preventing them from destroying lives elsewhere in the world.

The Syrian conflict has created the necessary security vacuum for drug traffickers to thrive.

“As the conflict is progressively diminishing in intensity, it is crucial to prevent Syria from becoming a new Afghanistan where instability, insecurity and poverty made the country the main producer and distributor of Opium-based drugs,” said Mr Martinez.

Source: The National