Doha: The General Directorate of Drug Control at the Ministry of Interior succeeded in thwarting an attempt to smuggle a large amount of drugs into the country.
Authorities arrested a gang of five people from an Asian country, who tried to smuggle one hundred kilograms of hashish for the purpose of trafficking.
The department received information that a gang is trying to smuggle and distribute drugs inside the country. A special investigation team was formed to probe the lead and a number of suspects were kept under watch.
This led to the discovery of a warehouse, where narcotic substances were hidden in containers carrying a shipment of marble stones. The suspects concealed the drugs inside the cavities of the marble.
After obtaining an order from the Public Prosecution to search the warehouse and arrest the gang members, officers of the General Directorate of Drug Control raided the warehouse when the gang started cutting the containers to extract the drugs.
“The defendants were arrested in ‘flagrante delicto’ (caught in the act of committing an offence) and the narcotic substances were extracted from the containers. The hashish confiscated from the containers weighed about 100 kilograms and were packed inside 192 cylindrical envelopes.
On interrogation, the defendants confessed to the crime of smuggling and storing narcotic drugs for the purpose of trading in them. They also guided police to the rest of the gang members who were arrested. All the defendants were referred to competent authorities to complete the legal procedures.