UAE security authorities have seized an Iranian ship while trying to smuggle about 11.5 kg of drugs and 142,725 narcotic pills into the country hidden in secret compartments through the Sharjah port.

Apart fom the drugs, the crew was also trying to smuggle two Iranian nationals, said a statement from the Anti-Narcotics Federal Directorate General at the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

A joint team from the Anti-Narcotics Federal Directorate General and the Anti-Narcotics Department at Sharjah Police conducted the raid in co-ordination with the concerned authorities and arrested 10 persons on the ship, including two Iranians who were hiding in the balance tank on the ship with the aim to be smuggled into the UAE.

The two people were suffering from exhaustion due to lack of oxygen and high temperatures, said the statement.

Lauding the UAE security forces, Colonel Saeed Al Suwaidi, the director general of the Anti-Narcotics Federal Directorate General at the MoI, said: "The operation resulted in the capture of six most active drug dealers, thus taking the total number of arrests in the case to 16."

On interrogation, the ship's captain confessed that he had been instructed by a drug dealer in Iran to hand over the consignment to the drug dealers for further distribution in the UAE.

"Since the network was big, the MoI created a number of teams and spanned across the city for the big arrests. The officers then set traps to catch them red-handed," stated  Lt Colonel Ahmed Abdul Aziz, the acting director of Anti-Narcotics Department at Sharjah Police.

Following the arrest, they were referred to prosecution for further punishment. The ship was also seized pending the legal procedures,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service