Dubai inspectors helped foil an attempt to smuggle 10 kilograms of heroin through four countries, customs officials said yesterday.
In an operation dubbed 'Heroin Flamingo' customs inspectors followed an Italian smuggler as he moved the drug from Peshawar to Rome, via Dubai and Zurich.
Mr Ali Al Meghawi, the director of airport operations at Dubai Customs, said officials at Dubai International Airport's Terminal One became suspicious when two pieces of luggage arriving from Peshawar went unclaimed.
"The bags were closely monitored and X-rayed and we found an unusual unevenness in their inside pockets as well as a distinguishing heroin-like odour stemming from them," he said.
He said inspectors checked the passenger information on the bags and tracked them to an Italian passenger.
However, when the passenger arrived, he went straight to the transit lounge and purchased a new ticket to Zurich, before requesting his luggage be boarded on the new flight.
The inspectors then informed the Swiss authorities of their suspicions.
Swiss officials then watched the man carried out a similar process in Zurich, where he purchased another ticket to Rome.
After arriving in Rome he passed through passport control and collected his luggage. He was then arrested by Italian officials as he handed the two bags to another man waiting for him at the airport.
Italian authorities said the bags contained 10kg of pure heroin hidden in secret pockets.
Two other Italian men are being questioned by police in Rome.
amustafa@thenational.ae
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Tottenham's 10 biggest transfers (according to transfermarkt.com):
1). Moussa Sissokho - Newcastle United - £30 million (Dh143m): Flop
2). Roberto Soldado - Valencia - £25m: Flop
3). Erik Lamela - Roma - £25m: Jury still out
4). Son Heung-min - Bayer Leverkusen - £25m: Success
5). Darren Bent - Charlton Athletic - £21m: Flop
6). Vincent Janssen - AZ Alkmaar - £18m: Flop
7). David Bentley - Blackburn Rovers - £18m: Flop
8). Luka Modric - Dynamo Zagreb - £17m: Success
9). Paulinho - Corinthians - £16m: Flop
10). Mousa Dembele - Fulham - £16m: Success
UAE v Zimbabwe A
Results
Match 1 – UAE won by 4 wickets
Match 2 – UAE won by 5 wickets
Match 3 – UAE won by 25 runs
Match 4 – UAE won by 77 runs
Fixture
Match 5, Saturday, 9.30am start, ICC Academy, Dubai
Spec%20sheet
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
Palestine and Israel - live updates
