JOIN USOmar Ahmed Al Muhairi, Senior Manager of Air Cargo Operation Department, that the authority had received information about a cargo coming in from an Asian country.
The package raised the suspicions of inspectors at the Flower Section of the Free Zone Inspection Centre at the Dubai International Airport.
"The restricted pills, valued at around 150,000 dirhams (USD 40,000), were manufactured from Sildenafil which is an anti-erectile dysfunction medicine."
The suspected cargo was subjected to manual inspection and samples of the tablets were referred to the Department of Drug Control and Registration at the Ministry of Health.
"The tablets proved to be unregistered and may cause grave health complications," he said.The drugs have come from India, Khaleej Times reported.
The drugs were then transferred to the Legal Affairs Department at the Dubai Customs which ordered re-exportation to the country of origin.
The case has been named "Flower Pollen" with reference to the place where the haul was seized in.
"Further, a fine of USD 1,360 (5,000 dirhams) is slapped against the importing company for not being authorised to import medicine and failing to obtain the required permits," the newspaper quoted Al Muhairi as saying.
"The prohibited drugs seized at the Air Cargo Department constitute 10 per cent of the total seizures of banned items, spanning narcotics, medicine, as well as restricted and counterfeited goods," he said.
"The results of the tests made on 3,900 volunteers — aged between 19 and 87— showed that the components of the drug seized cause headache, dizziness, mal-digestion, satiety, mucous membrane congestion, skin redness, diarrhea and visual difficulties in discriminating colours," he added.
In February this year, the Dubai Customs thwarted a bid to smuggle 100,000 sex pills —weighing 107kg, heading from a European to an Asian country through the Dubai International Airport Free Zone.