A combination of strategic planning, cooperation, a customs K-9 Dog unit, and smart inspection technology supported efforts to thwart an attempt to smuggle 5.715 million Captagon pills at Jebel Ali & Tecom Customs Center. Dubai Customs – also known for seizing an illegal shipment of 5 million Captagon pills back in January, confirmed this latest smuggling attempt utilized bags of red lentils to conceal the pills.

“We are vigilant and well prepared to all attempts of bringing these illegal contrabands into the UAE through Dubai entry points. The high sophisticated level that Dubai Customs reached in terms of infrastructure, equipment and the skills of their customs officers have led to more control over the emirate’s entry points and borders following the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai,” Director General of Dubai Customs Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said.

This seizure brings the total number of Captagon pills confiscated by Dubai Customs to 10.715 million pills in less than five months. The high-levels of communication and coordination between Jebel Ali & Tecom Customs Center and the Dubai Customs Intelligence Center serves as major factor for successful confiscations of illegal shipments. Jebel Ali & Tecom Customs Center’s one-of-a-kind container detection system provided the information needed for the final determination of risk involved with the illegal shipment.

“The full X-ray container detection system, the first of its kind in the world, can process 150 containers per hour,” Yousef Al Hashimi, Director of the Jebel Ali Customs Centres Management said. “These achievements at the Jebel Ali Customs Centre Management support our preparations for the upcoming Expo 2020. We have a very advanced smart risk engine in place which we developed in-house to track all coming shipments and classify them based on their risk level” he concluded.