DUBAI: Dubai Customs intercepted 155 attempts to smuggle talismans and black magic items at Dubai International Airport.
The seizures included almost 10,000 articles associated with the practice of witchcraft and sorcery and weighed a total of 97kg.
Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, director of Dubai Customs, said the witchcraft items that were seized would have been used for deception.
Practicing sorcery and witchcraft is considered a dangerous epidemic threatening the security of the society by manipulating people’s minds and taking advantage of their needs to deceive them,” he said.
He said Dubai Customs inspectors have received all kinds of training and awareness courses for its staff to be able to recognise these materials.
Smugglers often invent new methods trying to hoodwink customs officials. Upon arrival to the customs zone in the airport, passengers’ baggage is inspected and screened using x-ray scanning devices. Both large luggage and handbags are then physically inspected by trained inspectors to make sure they contain no illicit imports,” Musabih said.
Ahmed Abdullah bin Lahej, Dubai Customs’ director of passenger operations, said the confiscated articles included talismans, amulets, worry beads, animal skins, sorcery knives, magic teaching books, bags containing fish skeletons, animal bones, ampoules full of blood and other liquids, animal drawings, strings, pieces of charcoal, finger rings, oysters, leaves, powders, cotton rolls used in sorcery, thread and some dark materials.
