MUSCAT: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) rounded up 354 drug smugglers and infiltrators between January and April of this year. ROP carried out more than 39 raids in different governorates as part of its national efforts to protect the country from drug smugglers and infiltrators.
ROP said it found a strong link between illegal entry to the country and drug smuggling as the police raids resulted in the seizure of various narcotic pills and tens of kilogrammes of crystal meth as well as large quantities of hashish, morphine, heroin, opium and khat.
ROP said that infiltrators and smugglers use several methods of smuggling, most of which are carried out via the sea while other operations showed the involvement of smugglers with international drug cartels that send drugs by sea in addition to various other methods.
The operations targeting drug smugglers were carried out jointly by the Directorate-General for Combating Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the Coast Guard Police, the Special Tasks Police and the police commands in the governorates where the operations took place. The Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) also pitched in to the police operations by providing aerial support.
The raids against infiltrators and drug smugglers were centred in the governorates of North Al Batinah, South Al Batinah and Muscat while most of the operations targeting illegal entry via the sea were carried out in Dhofar Governorate and the shores of the Arabian Sea where smuggling of khat and other types of chewing tobacco is rife.
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