ABU DHABI: More than 30,000 bottles of alcohol hidden in crates marked ‘apples’ were found by custom officials in a lorry headed out of the UAE and into Saudi Arabia.
Security officers at Al Ghuwaifat customs were tipped off about an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of alcohol. Customs inspectors checked a lorry with UAE licence plates at the border checkpoint.
Using scanning equipment, officials found the bottles in boxes labelled ‘apples’. In total, 2,559 cardboard boxes each containing a dozen bottles were found, totalling 30,708 bottles. In a separate incident, an Arab passenger was found in possession of 8,000 pills hidden in his belongings when inspectors searched buses entering the UAE through Al Ghuwaifat.
The seized pills are classified as stimulants that can only be prescribed by a doctor, officals said. Both suspects were arrested by customs inspectors and legal action is under way.
Mohammed Khadem Al Hameli, acting director general of the General Administration of Customs, said the recovery highlighted the cooperation between security services in supporting customs officials to deal with criminals.
The department sought to “implement the latest customs inspection procedures and systems to combat any attempt to smuggle contraband across land, sea and airports,” he said. The Al Ghuwaifat border post is the largest in the UAE and handled more than 2.5 million vehicles entering and exiting the country last year.
