MORE than 300 drugs related cases, including smuggling operations, have been foiled in the first three months of this year alone, it has emerged.
Authorities also seized more than 17kg of narcotics along with thousands of pills within Bahrain and at its entry points during the first quarter of 2020.
Probe
Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science director general Brigadier Abdulaziz Al Rumaihi said investigations and police raids continue as part of ongoing efforts in the war against drugs.
He said the noticeable increase in the number of seized drugs in the last few years reflects tighter controls and monitoring operations.
“During the first quarter of this year, approximately 16kg of hashish and about 1kg of heroin were seized,” Brigadier Al Rumaihi told the Interior Ministry’s Al Amn magazine.
“In addition, 27,312 tablets of methamphetamine, 138 captagon tablets and 486 tramadol tablets were also seized.
“In general, the total cases during the first three months of this year were 305 of which 164 were within Bahrain, 109 at the causeway and 31 at the airport and the seaport.”
In his message ahead of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which will fall on June 26, Brigadier Al Rumaihi said efforts have intensified in the past few years to combat the supply of and demand for narcotics.
He said this year’s figures compared with the seizure of more than 142kg of hashish, 4kg of heroin and more than 11kg of marijuana last year.
“This is in addition to large quantities of psychotropic substances,” he added.
“A total of 109,152 tablets of amphetamine, 1,225 tablets of prazolam, 4,883 tramadol and 23,871 methamphetamine tablets were seized.
“There has been a noticeable increase in the number of seized cases, which reflects the increase in control efforts.”
The overall cases registered last year reached 1,547, including 1,217 cases of drug abuse, 154 cases of promotion, and 42 cases of smuggling among other classifications.
The cases recorded within Bahrain was 531, while those foiled at King Fahad Causeway was 867 and at Bahrain International Airport reached 147.
Two cases were also reported at the Khalifa Bin Salman Port.
These involved 1,789 males and 143 females who have been arrested.
The GDN reported last week that 56kg of drugs, worth BD300,000, were smuggled by sea and a Bahraini suspect was arrested by the police, while the hunt is on to track down other suspects.
Meanwhile, Brigadier Al Rumaihi also discussed plans for establishing a treatment and rehabilitation centre for drug addicts.
He said the engineering design for the facility has been approved and a plot of land has been allocated, while the budget was awaiting approval.
The new facility will be managed by both the Health Ministry and the Interior Ministry.
Brigadier Al Rumaihi also stressed on the need to create a national database to address the issue of drug addiction.
“There is an erroneous belief by users about the mental image of addiction treatment,” he said.
“Many users believe that places of recovery are like prisons and that they will be imprisoned.”
He explained that the ministry’s recovery programme pays attention to the preventive and curative aspects of treatment.
“There are many future plans to develop the programme, which involves creating an electronic system and including those whose sentences expire,” he said.
Return
“We have to ensure that they do not return to addiction, and for that we co-ordinate with relevant ministries and institutions to introduce the programme among all spectrums of society, including students, labour and youth groups.”
He added that Bahrain adopts the best international practices and expertise in the field of drug control, highlighting the National Plan to Combat Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
“We are aware of the seriousness of this problem on the health, economic, psychological and social levels,” he said.
“The first phase of the national plan for the period 2015-2019 has been completed and the success rate was 97 per cent, and work is underway to prepare the second phase after the end of the coronavirus crisis.”
However, he said the ministry will not host any activities or programmes on June 26 in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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