DUBAI: Two Asian youths and an Emirati were held with 55 kilos of hashish along with a huge stash of narcotics, police revealed on Monday.

During a police chase earlier this month, they had dumped out of their car four bags containing the 55kg of hashish, 2kg of opium, 32,600 narcotic pills and 316.8g of heroin.

The painstaking operation was dubbed ‘Operation Rugged’ after the police had tracked and pursued them in the rugged mountainous areas between Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah before arresting them in Ajman’s Manama area.

Four UAE security agencies played an outstanding role in executing the operation through a joint team comprising anti-narcotics personnel from Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah in addition to the police station in Manama area.

The suspects were identified as JJM, 21, an unemployed Asian, AAS, 21, an Asian employee and MAH, 27, a jobless Emirati youth. They all resided in Dubai.

The Anti-narcotics Department Director and Deputy Chairman of the UAE’s Higher Committee for Drug Control, Major General Abdul Jalil Mahdi Al Asmawi, expressed his discontentment with “the involvement of young men in drug-related activities.”

“Prior intelligence information gathered over the span of two months confirmed that the trio was readying to smuggle and peddle drugs. The police devised a plan to nab them red-handed,” he said.

On the road to Ras Al Khaimah, the police spotted their car diverting into a very rugged mountainous area located near a cement plant in Dibba. The police observed it until it parked.