C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000330

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/19/2018
TAGS: PGOV ECON EFIN ETRD KCRM SNAR AE
SUBJECT: 202KG HEROIN SEIZED IN DRUG BUST

CLASSIFIED BY: Paul Sutphin, Consul General, Consulate Dubai,
UAE.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)




1. (U) During a joint Sharjah/Dubai police drug raid dubbed
"Operation 888" (the raid occurred on August 8, 2008), officers
seized 202 kilograms of heroin (worth $11 million) and arrested
19 Afghans in the what the media describes as the region's
largest drug bust to date. One of the arrested suspects
supposedly admitted to police that he owned the drugs and had
already sold 25 kilograms to three UAE residents of differing
nationalities.


2. (U) According to press reports, a tip that Sharjah's
industrial zone was serving as re-packaging and transshipment
points for drugs moving through Sharjah and Dubai, led police to
conduct August 8th raids on several warehouses and apartments.
Reports claimed that the drugs were hidden in false compartments
inside the fuel tanks of imported large trucks. Police caught
several suspects in the act of loading the trucks for
transshipment out of the UAE, while others were arrested at
several sites where the modified trucks, and some modified fuel
tanks, were stored. Seven vehicles were seized and are being
tested. In addition to the drugs, police also confiscated
weighing scales and plastic bags used in re-packaging.


3. (C/NF) According to Post DEA Attachi sources, the drugs were
shipped in concealed compartments, with 40 to 50 kilograms
capacity, located in the trucks' transmission boxes (the
traffickers were in the process of modifying the fuel tanks to
gain greater capacity per truck in preparation for another
shipment). The operation appears to have been in effect for the
past three months, with trucks being loaded in Karachi, shipped
via the Makran coast to Dubai, where they were off-loaded and
then subsequently sent back to Karachi for another load. In
Dubai, the Afghans were selling the drugs to Nigerians and
Kenyans who then used mules to transship the heroin to China.
DEA is working with local law enforcement to follow-up on
telephone numbers/records found in the possession of the
arrested traffickers.


4. (C) Comment: According to Post's DEA attachi, UAE officials
typically downplay drug busts, claiming the narcotics are being
transshipped and not sold locally. The mention of 25 kilograms
of local sales might be an indication that police are taking
local usage more seriously. Police statements, such as the one
made by Col. Abdullah Mubarak al Dukhan (deputy director of
Sharjah police), "This has put it clear that we are no longer a
small consumer market for drugs, but at risk of becoming a hub
for drug business if we don't double our efforts to eliminate
this crime", highlight a far bigger concern: evidence indicates
the UAE is not becoming, but already is and has been for some
time a major transshipment hub for narcotics, with similarly
large quantities of narcotics moving through the UAE's various
ports and free zones regularly. DEA will continue to work with
UAE and individual emirate authorities to increase
narcotics-related law enforcement efforts. End comment.

SUTPHIN