Authorities in the UAE and Kuwait have carried out a major drug bust, seizing more than 3.7 million Lyrica pills and arresting three members of an alleged trafficking gang.
UAE state news agency WAM said Friday that a man was arrested in the Ajman emirate after being caught with 2.75 million illegally obtained narcotic substances, including Lyrica tablets, a medicine used to treat epilepsy and anxiety.
The arrest came after two other individuals were arrested at Kuwait International Airport after being found with one million tablets.
“Through information exchange between the Interior Ministries of both countries, the operations of this trafficking gang, endangering community health and safety, were dismantled,” WAM said.
Pregabalin, also known by the brand name Lyrica, is an anti-epileptic drug also used to relieve chronic pain. However, it can be abused, as users may feel euphoria, relaxation, and calmness. It has been linked to deaths in the UK.
Brig Saeed Abdullah al-Suwaidi, director general of the Federal Narcotics Control Unit at the UAE’s Ministry of Interior, emphasised the importance of control agencies to locate, disrupt, and cut off funding sources for criminal networks.
Dubai regularly carries out operations to prevent illegal substances from being trafficked across UAE borders.
Last month, Dubai Customs seized a massive haul of marijuana from an African country that was disguised in shipment bags labelled as red onions.
Earlier this year, Dubai Customs thwarted an attempt to smuggle 234,000 Tramadol pills, a class of drugs known as opioid analgesics, from an Asian country concealed within a shipment of towels.
