* 8.4kg of contraband seized at Ruwais Port

The Maritime Customs Department seized 8.4kg of hashish at Ruwais Port, the General Authority of Customs (GAC) said on Thursday.

The contraband was found inside tube-shaped casings hidden inside the rear guard rail of a fruit container truck, videos posted on social media by the GAC showed.

The hashish was discovered after an X-ray detected the presence of foreign objects inside the guard rail, the GAC tweeted.

Nine packages of the narcotic substance were found inside the casings, weighing a total of 8.4kg.

The Maritime Customs Department has foiled a number of attempts to smuggle narcotic substances at Ruwais Port and elsewhere.

Earlier this month, officials seized 26.15kg of hashish that was found hidden inside metal cans in refrigerated fruit containers.

A total of 26 packs of the contraband were seized.

In another case this month, the department seized 45.5kg of hashish at Ruwais Port where it was found hidden inside the spare tyre of a refrigerated vehicle. The banned narcotic substance was concealed in 45 plastic bags.

Also in September, Air Cargo Customs officials seized banned Captagon pills that were being smuggled to Qatar. The cache of 34,990 pills was found concealed inside a consignment of small tables.

In August, GAC officials seized ‘tambaku’ (a kind of chewing tobacco) weighing 2,152kg at Hamad Port. The seized ‘tambaku’ was recovered from a sugar shipment.

Before that, in July, the GAC had foiled attempts to smuggle illicit drugs into Qatar as four packs of crystal meth weighing 734gm were seized at Hamad International Airport.