Man hides drugs in sweet box, arrested at RAK airport

A customs officer at Ras Al Khaimah International Airport arrested an Arab young man with a large quantity of pills and narcotics in his possession. The defendant attempted to bring the narcotics into the country by hiding them in a sweet box but the inspectors noticed a signal in the baggage screening equipment that there were medical drugs.

Dr Mohammed Al Mehrezi, Director General of Ras Al Khaimah Customs Department, said the airport customs inspectors’ vigilance, sense of security and understanding of body language led to the seizure of the narcotics hidden in an unknown box designed to look as a sweet box.

The inspectors noticed that there was a signal that medical drugs were inside the box and this aroused their suspicion. The box was later sent for manual inspection where a large quantity of pills and narcotics was found in the bottom of the box.

The defendant was referred to the competent authorities so that the necessary legal measures would be taken against him.

Al Mehrezi stressed that the department was keen on developing its human cadres and subjecting them to dedicated training programmes in body language, customs inspection and use of advanced devices to detect smugglers and smuggled materials.

Recently, an airport officer who snatched nine cigarette packs from a passenger’s bags will spend six months behind bars, a jury ruled.

The Arab defendant, 43, was working at a Dubai airport as a customer service officer heading a team of subordinates, when he snatched the cigarettes and two purses from two suitcases of a departing passenger.

The items were worth Dhs955, prosecutors said on Jul.21. He confessed during police interrogations.

The Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced him to six months in prison to be followed by deportation.

In prosecution records, an Emirati sergeant said that several passengers complained that their hand baggage were taken from them at the departure gates instead of allowing them to enter with them inside the planes.