DUBAI: An African man has been arrested at Dubai airport for allegedly trying to smuggle in cocaine, in the third drug-trafficking case by Africans in a week, newspapers reported on Sunday.
The man, whose nationality was not disclosed, flew in to Dubai from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Al-Bayan reported, adding he was carrying 8.4 kilograms (18.5 pounds) of cocaine.
The amount is the largest seized since the start of 2010, it said, citing the head of Dubai police’s anti-drugs department, General Abdul Jaleel Mahdi.
"The substance, with a street value of more than AED 2 million," (more than $500,000), was hidden in 24 metal screws, Gulf News daily reported, also without giving a date for the arrest.
On Saturday, an African woman was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle over three kilograms of "the narcotic crystal component also known by the name meth," a cheaper and less pure form of cocaine, Dubai customs said.
And a Nigerian woman was arrested at Dubai airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle in seven kilograms (16 pounds) of cocaine, customs said last Monday.
Dubai Customs said on Friday that it had thwarted 251 drug-trafficking attempts over the past five months.
Earlier this month, police in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi seized 16 kilograms of heroin in an undercover operation, arresting a Pakistani and an Afghan.
