DOHA: Bags of snakes and rare reptiles, as well as drugs including hashish (cannabis resin), heroin and marijuana, were among the 355 items reportedly seized by Qatar’s customs officials at Hamad International Airport (HIA) last year.
According to the figures reported in The Peninsula, the state’s General Authority of Customs makes on average nearly one seizure a day.
While drugs make up the majority of the seizures – some 317 during 2014, with hashish the most commonly intercepted narcotic smuggled into the country – officials have also stopped the illegal import of live animals.
In one incident, customs officers stopped a passenger at HIA who had secreted 52 rare reptiles, including a large number of poisonous snakes, in their luggage.
