The UAE announced on 6 November 2026 that it had arrested 20 suspects of Gulf, Arab, African and Asian nationalities and stopped a plan to smuggle 200,000 Captagon pills and more than 30 kg of other drugs through a border area of Ras Al Khaimah.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]

Gulf News and Emarat Al Youm, both carrying the state news agency’s account, said those other drugs included varied quantities of cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, hashish and Spice.[2][3][25] Spice is a synthetic drug and is not counted as cannabis. No separate weight was given for the marijuana or hashish, so the more than 30 kg is not recorded as a cannabis figure.[2][3][48] Khaleej Times reported the 20 arrests, the Captagon pills and the 30 kg without listing marijuana or hashish by name.[1]

The operation followed intelligence shared by the UAE and Iraq.[1][2][3][25][47][48][49] Khaleej Times said the National Anti-Narcotics Agency carried it out with Ras Al Khaimah Police, Iraq’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances and the Federal Public Prosecution.[1] Gulf News uses the name National Drug Enforcement Authority for the federal body and Ras Al Khaimah Police General Headquarters for the emirate force.[2] Some suspects were caught holding the drugs and trying to smuggle them.[1][2][25][48][49] Gulf News said the others were arrested inside the UAE in ambushes; Khaleej Times described those later arrests as coordinated raids.[1][2]

The agency said the operation struck smuggling and trafficking networks and asked the public to report suspicious activity.[1][2]