DUBAI // Smugglers hid more than Dh4 million worth of heroin in cartons of oranges, police revealed yesterday.
Officers taking part in Operation Orange Harvest had tracked 58kgs of the drug to a shipment of 2,565 orange cartons that arrived in Jebel Ali Port from Afghanistan via Pakistan earlier this year, said the deputy police chief Maj Gen Khamis Mattar al Mezaina.
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"The smugglers placed the drugs in plastic bags and hid them in the inside flaps of the orange boxes concealing it from inspectors," said Maj Gen al Mezaina.
Three suspects were arrested on March 5 and March 7 in three separate sting operations.
"We have detained the main suspect, a 30-year-old African salesman and resident as well as a 36-year-old Asian fisherman and a 32-year-old African man," Maj Gen al Mezaina said.
Dubai police have sought the help of Interpol to search for two further suspects, a 47-year-old trader and a 42-year-old businessman, both Asians, he added. He said Dubai was not believed to be the final destination of the drugs.
"This was a large bust and such a large quantity is not used for internal consumption. We believe the drugs were heading to Africa and ultimately to Europe for mass consumption there," he said.
According to the Anti Drugs Department the drug shipment was stored in a warehouse at the Dubai fruit and vegetable market after arriving at the port.
Police had received a tip-off from an Asian broker that an African man was intending to ship a large amount of drugs to Nigeria.
Officers put the man under surveillance at his apartment in the Abu Shagarah district of Sharjah before arresting him on March 5 at a car parts store in Naif, where he was found with 14kg of heroin. A further 13.9 kg was found at his apartment.
Two days later police arrested an Asian man at a warehouse in the Dubai fruit and vegetable market, where they found 29.6 kg of heroin inside 705 orange cartons.
Later that day a second African man was arrested in his car in the Hor al Anz district of Diera.
The three men have been referred to the Dubai Narcotics Prosecution to face formal charges.
