“Hidden in an innovative way.” The UAE announces the seizure of 13 tons of Captagon tablets, worth more than one billion dollars.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - The UAE Ministry of Interior said in a statement, Thursday, that it had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 13 tons of the addictive amphetamine, known as Captagon, as part of a shipment hidden between doors and decorative building panels, and its value was estimated at just over one billion dollars (3.87 billion dirhams). Dubai Police said that they arrested six people who were part of an “international criminal gang,” and explained that it was “one of the largest Captagon tablet smuggling operations in the world.”

The UAE Ministry of Interior added that “innovative smuggling methods” were used in the drug smuggling operation, and it took “days” to extract the pills. The Ministry of Interior added, explaining that the criminal gang used innovative smuggling methods, as they hid Captagon pills inside 651 professionally manufactured doors made of iron and solid wood, and hid them within 432 panels of high-end home decor furniture.

The UAE Minister of Interior, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said in a statement on the “X” platform, previously Twitter, on Thursday, that the UAE “stands as an impenetrable bulwark against any threat aimed at endangering the security and well-being of Emirati society.” A video from a surveillance camera, released by the Ministry of Interior on Thursday, shows the suspects trying to bring Captagon tablets through Jebel Ali Port in Dubai.

The UAE authorities have confiscated hundreds of thousands of Captagon pills since 2019. In June 2023, Abu Dhabi Customs said that they seized approximately 175,000 Captagon pills from the beginning of 2019, until May 2023.