34,000 kg of sandalwood shipment seized in Dubai

DG Staff

DUBAI 24 October 2020: Jebel Ali Customs Centre, part of Dubai Customs’ Sea Customs Centres Management, thwarted 103 smuggling attempts in the first eight months of 2020.

A total of 104,074 inspection operations were conducted and 144,025 containers were scanned in this period.

Prohibited goods, which were seized by the centre, varied to include 33,930 kg of sandalwood, which is in violation of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Another seizure included 53,760 narcotic pills packed in 32 boxes, and another one included the narcotic substance packed in 5.5 million plastic bags and hidden in 92,400 boxes.

“We developed our inspection systems to ensure best effective ways of thwarting smuggling of prohibited goods,” said Yousef Al Hashmi, Director of Sea Customs Centres Management.

“At Jebel Ali Customs Centre, we have six advanced container scanning systems that can handle 900 containers per hour. The system alerts inspectors for any suspicious shipments through identifying density of materials inside the container. Aided by the K9 Sniffing Dogs Unit, the highly professional and skilled inspectors can easily recognise and detect any prohibited materials. We are connected directly to Dubai Customs and DP World to help clients book an inspection date convenient to them,” he noted.

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