DUBAI, June 27: Police in the Gulf emirate of Dubai said on Sunday they had captured a fugitive drug baron after a seven-year chase that spanned several Middle Eastern countries and ended in Lebanon.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) official news agency WAM named the man as Ziyad Abahji and said he was arrested in conjunction with Lebanese police in Beirut while trying to sell a huge quantity of narcotics.

It said he was holding a UAE passport when he was arrested but did not say when he was captured.

Dubai police chief, Dhahi Khalfan, told WAM Abahji had been on the run since June 1997, when police busted a car dealership he was using as a front for manufacturing and selling drugs.

The dealership sold vehicles stolen in Europe and illegally exported to Dubai, he added.

WAM said Abahji was the "most dangerous drug lord on the local scene". Diplomats say Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE and the Gulf region's trade and tourism hub, is a busy route for drug trafficking between Asia to Europe.-Reuters