ROP foils smuggling bids, seizes four boats

MUSCAT: A Coast Guard vessel seized a boat laden with khat inside Oman’s territorial sea parallel to Wilayat of Mirbat in Dhofar Governorate, said an official with Royal Oman Police (ROP). Three people of an Arab nationality who were on board the boat were arrested. The police recovered 12 boxes of khat in the operation. The defendants were handed over to the Directorate of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances of Dhofar Governorate. In another case, the Coast Guard patrols in Musandam Governorate on Friday and Saturday seized four smuggling boats two of them are used for smuggling purposes, a Royal Oman Police (ROP) official has said. The Coast Guard personnel monitored a boat sailing near the Aum Al Ghanam Island.  The boat was then intercepted by a Coast Guard patrol and attempted to escape after dumping its consignment in the sea but was eventually seized and three people on board were arrested. After being recovered from the sea, the consignment was found to be liquor. The second boat was also seized ten miles away from Daba with three smugglers and an amount of liquor on board. Last week, ROP, in collaboration with other military and security departments, arrested 45 infiltrators of different nationalities in several wilayats for entering the Sultanate illegally. The ROP also deported 24 infiltrators after taking the necessary legal actions, in coordination with their respective embassies.