Fighting the menace: Locking out drugs

Dubai Police have arrested 32 Emiratis for trying to smuggle drugs into Dubai Central Jail this year, a jail official said.

There have been recent incidents where people tried to supply drugs to inmates. Confirming the trend, Maj Gen Mohammad Humaid Al Suwaidi, Director of Punitive and Correctional Establishments at Dubai Police, said: "There have been several recent incidents of drug-smuggling into Dubai Central Jail.

"It is something that happens in prisons all over the world."

Al Suwaidi denied it could be "considered a phenomenon", although he admitted "it happens from time to time".

Talking of statistics

We have more than 200 drug users among prisoners, of whom 105 are Emirati, and the only thing that controls the thinking of these people is drugs. Maj Gen Mohammad Humaid Al Suwaidi, Dubai Police

"We have more than 200 drug users among prisoners, of whom 105 are Emirati and the only thing that controls the thinking of these people is drugs.

"Sometimes they attempt to smuggle drugs, not through our staff but through relatives or friends who come to visit them," he added.

"In the last eight months, 32 Emiratis were arrested for attempts to smuggle drugs into the prison."

He declined to explain the modus operandi of traffickers, but added: "They have their own way and we have ours to foil their attempts."

Al Suwaidi said: "We are aware of the issue of drug smuggling into jail, but are not worried about it as we carefully watch over the inmates and subject them to regular inspection.

"We have never ever found any involvement of police staff and we are working day and night to prevent violations inside the prison. Drug addicts are sick people, not criminals, so we try to help them by using various approaches, including psychological, educational, religious, and social.

"We offer these prisoners psychological and sociological help so as to enable them to adapt to a new life inside the jail. We also isolate and keep them under observation until they are rid of the effects of drugs."

Offering help

Al Suwaidi said that when these people want to visit a private physician or a hospital in Dubai, they are taken there.

"We are a correctional institution and not one that rehabilitates.

"We run a corrective programme entitled ‘Do Not Go Back to Drugs’ which is one of the ways through which we help drug addicts give up the habit and join society, family and parents."