Leading drug dealer arrested in Shabwa

Vast bundles of hashsish are incinerated by anti-drugs police. The Ministry of Interior has started a major crackdown on the trade in Yemen, netting numerous arrests.

Police have arrested one of the most notorious drug traffickers in Rafdoum district of Shabwa province, said a police source on Sunday. They also halted the attempt of some gunmen to release the wanted traffickers by firing barrages of fire while being transported to Sana’a the capital.

One of the biggest drug traffickers in Yemen, named "Ali Abdullah bin Hatefan al-Suyeri’ was in his Hummer car at Ayn Bamabd security check-point, the source told al-motamar.net website . Al-Suyeri is high on the wanted list of the Specialized Criminal Court. 

The police transferred him on Saturday to Sana'a accompanied by patrols lead by the commander of the seventh security zone in Shabwa province. Gunmen riding four vans and two other cars fired a barrage of fire on patrols, which led to a coup during their passing in Asilian area. The coup caused injury of seven soldiers who were transferred to Behan hospital. 

The sources said that it had been strengthened by four patrols and other security check points to arrest and prosecute the gunmen.

In related news, the Public Administration of Anti-drug referred the case of a defendant accused of drugs trade to the Specialized Criminal Prosecution. The accused is a Syrian named Khalf Mohamed Helal, arrested in International Sana'a Airport on  Sunday June 29 carrying 715,000 pills of drugs inside electric heaters. 

The Ministry of Interior’s authorities captured during the last five months 17 tons and 970 kilograms of hashish, as well as 468,000 narcotic pills, stated a  report issued by the ministry press office last month.

An official report announced that drug crimes increased in 2007 to 140 with 226 suspects, in comparison to 45 crimes and 86 suspects in 2005.    The report disclosed that the number of Yemenis suspected of involvement in drug trafficking increased in 2007 to 204 compared to 81 in 2005. The numbers of foreign drug dealer suspects were 5 in 2005 and 22 in 2007. 

The report added that 511 individuals were charged with drug dealing in the country in the last three years. The suspects included 469 Yemenis and 42 foreigners. 

The amount of the seized hashish during the last three years amounted to 9,642 kilograms, with 3,004 kilograms seized in 2005, 2,082 in 2006 and 4,555 in 2007 together with the confiscation of 112 hashish plants. 

The narcotic pills seized in the same period totaled 802,944; most of them were caught in 2007. In 2005, the number of pills seized was 791,469, however only 6,500 pills were confiscated in 2004, in addition to 535 liters of ether acetyl. The report announced that the total quantity of drugs destroyed in Sa’adah and Taiz in 2006 were 22.2 kilograms of heroin, 1,647,952 kilograms of hashish, 200 grams of hashish seeds, 41,039 narcotic pills and 7,856 amphetamine pills. The amount of drugs destroyed in al-Mahara in 2007 mounted to 1,542,500 kilograms of hashish.   

Sources confirmed that disclosure of this amount of drugs comes in the light of security information received by the Yemeni Security Services and the General Administration of drug-policing in Saudi Arabia within the framework of security cooperation between Sana’a and Riyadh. The Yemeni Security Services had searched the boat more than once since its detention in the middle last February, but they did not find anything at that time.

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