$4 million worth of drugs seized by Hamas police forces in Gaza

Sunday December 09, 2007 19:26 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

Palestinian police forces of the Hamas-dominated government in Gaza seized and burned on Sunday marijuana plants valued at $4 million, in what the Hamas's interior ministry says was a two-week-long chase of drug dealers in the coastal region.

illustration photo/ Maan News Agency

Spokesman of the interior ministry, Ehab al-Ghussain, told press that today's operation came following several days of crackdown of traffickers of such illicit drugs, which involved marijuana, hashish and tablets.

Al-Ghussain said that most of the confiscated drugs have been smuggled through under-ground tunnels to the south of Gaza Strip, adding that his ministry has shut down almost 90 percent of such tunnels, yet he gave no exact figure.

The ministry's spokesman voiced concern over other suspected tunnels, close to the Karni commercial crossing in eastern Gaza, where Israel holds control.

Scores of Palestinian residents looked on the heaps of burning drugs as pillars of smoke were visible in Gaza city mid day Sunday. The latest crackdown by Hamas police forces is the first of it type since the Islamist group took over the coastal Strip in mid June, amidst a power struggle with the rival secular Fatah party.

In the wake of the takeover, Israel closed all travel and commercial crossings in Gaza, increasing the deterioration of Gaza's economy, and the rise of what has been known as 'tunnel trade' in southern Gaza Strip, where a black market is omnipresent.

gaza strip | internal unrest | news report rami at imemc dot org