Dubai Customs have joined forces with their Japanese counterparts to thwart efforts to smuggle $310 million of methamphetamine into the East Asian country.
Customs officers from both nations came together after receiving information that a large haul of illicit drugs had been stashed on a cargo ship bound for Japan.
The resulting joint operation led to the second biggest drug bust ever made in Japan, as about 700kg of methamphetamine was seized in Tokyo, Emirati state news agency Wam reported on Sunday.
The cargo ship had set sail from an unspecified Asian country with a significant quantity of drugs hidden on board.
This marks a key victory in Dubai's ongoing support of the global fight against drug trafficking.
Ahmed Musabih, director general of Dubai Customs, stressed the importance of forging close links with customs authorities around the world to help snuff out the drugs trade.
Last month, Dubai Customs assisted Canadian authorities in tracking and obtaining more than 547kg of drugs.
The contraband was discovered in shipping containers transported to Canada from Asia.
No further details about the haul were revealed.
A global crime-fighting coalition – including the UAE – has seized more than 55 tonnes of drugs valued at $750m in a two-month operation, also making 597 arrests.
The International Security Alliance, which includes the UAE, Bahrain, Senegal, Morocco, Spain, Israel, Italy, Slovakia, Singapore, France and the Netherlands, joined forces with the Police Community of the Americas, Ameripol. The operation targeted gangs smuggling drugs across parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
In total, 22 countries were involved in the major campaign to disrupt sophisticated drug networks between April and June.
Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, hailed the efforts of global police forces to take drugs off the streets.
He thanked ISA and Ameripol for “their promotion of international efforts to combat this dangerous scourge at the global level, as partners in the safety of our societies,” in a message on Twitter on Monday.
The campaign targeted transnational drug trafficking networks and involved monitoring air, land and sea routes used by the gangs.
Footage shared by the alliance showed special forces teams from around the world carrying out key arrests and seizing large quantities of drugs.
Dubai Customs foil smugglers - in pictures
COMPANY%20PROFILE
Full Party in the Park line-up
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9.30pm – Chris Wright
10pm – Fatboy Slim
11pm – Hollaphonic
The%20specs
MATCH INFO
Everton 2 (Tosun 9', Doucoure 93')
Rotherham United 1 (Olosunde 56')
Man of the Match Olosunde (Rotherham)
Company%20Profile
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Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
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- Power: 640hp
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Tips to keep your car cool
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Key facilities
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
Our family matters legal consultant
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Scores in brief:
Day 1
New Zealand (1st innings) 153 all out (66.3 overs) - Williamson 63, Nicholls 28, Yasir 3-54, Haris 2-11, Abbas 2-13, Hasan 2-38
Pakistan (1st innings) 59-2 (23 overs)
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2A)
RESULT
Arsenal 2
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 45 4'
Eddie Ntkeiah 51'
Portsmouth 0
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The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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May 13, v Malaysia
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May 18 and 19, semi-finals
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