Female smuggler gets creative with Fseikh, gets busted

CAIRO – 16 July 2017: On Saturday, a woman from Damietta faced criminal charges after she tried to smuggle Tramadol out of the country in fermented fish (Fseikh) through Borg el-Arab airport, according to security sources.

The security forces suspected the woman before traveling from Borg el-Arab airport to a Gulf state. The suspect’s luggage was examined by an X-ray machine that revealed the presence of narcotic substances.

Further investigations revealed that the woman was trying to smuggle 920 Tramadol tablets in fermented fish (Fseikh). She was later referred for prosecution.

Continued efforts to control the smuggling of narcotic substances into and out of Egypt are taking place across the country, following the instructions of Minister of Interior Majdi Abdel Ghaffar to tighten control and monitoring over all the country’s borders. Customs at different Egyptian borders have repeatedly thwarted attempts to smuggle drugs, antiquities, spy cameras and contraband.

There has been an increase in medical drug consumption for non-medical reasons in order to evade legal penalties in Egypt, which has resulted in looting attempts of large drug shipments that surpass the medical need in the country.

According to a 2014 study by CAPMAS, 10 percent of the population uses drugs, which is double the global rate, but only 2.5 percent are drug addicts, which is on par with the global rate. About 27 percent of drug users and addicts are women.