Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jun 2011
Source: National, The (UAE)
Copyright: 2011 Abu Dhabi Media Company
Contact:  http://www.thenational.ae/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4896
Author: Saleh al Shaibany

YEMEN INCREASING EFFORTS AGAINST ILLEGAL DRUGS

MUSCAT // Omani police said yesterday they are beefing up coastline 
security to fight drug smuggling due to a 35 per cent increase in 
drug offences in 2010 compared to the previous year.

Lt Col Yaqoub bin Salmeen al Habsi, acting head of the drug control 
department at the Directorate-General of Criminal Investigation, said 
in a statement that the police charged 1,417 people "with drugs 
offences" in 2010 up from 1,048 in 2009.

"The biggest users are citizens, while expatriates represented the 
largest number of smugglers and dealers. Offences include heroin, 
opium and even hashish," Lt Col Al Habsi said.

To combat drug trafficking, the police plan to equip coastguards with 
more speed boats and modern aircraft to patrol the sultanate's 
coastline, he added without elaborating.

Oman has a 1,700-kilometre-long coastline that stretches from Yemen 
to the UAE. Smugglers from Pakistan, India and Iran use the sea to 
smuggle in drugs under cover of the night, a border official said.

"It is extremely difficult to police a coastline that long on a 
regular basis. We foil a lot of attempts but I would say a quarter of 
the smugglers escape the net. What's the solution? We need the 
co-operation from our neighbours to defeat the trade. We cannot do it 
alone," said a border official at the northern region of Musandam, 
who declined to be identified by name.

Mr al Habsi said that Oman has recently signed separate memorandums 
of understanding with the UAE, Pakistan and Turkey to "co-operate on 
drug matters" that he hoped would cut down smuggling.

"These drug smugglers hide [contraband] in the boat under legitimate 
imports such as clothing, shoes and food. Not all the drugs and 
hashish are consumed locally. Actually most of them go to the UAE by 
road where there is a bigger market," a fisherman in Khasab, a 
coastal town near the UAE border said. Khasab is the largest town in 
Musandam, a peninsula in the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow sea lane 
off the coast of Oman is a key exporting route through wichi 40 per 
cent of the world's crude oil travels from the Gulf states.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom