Can someone /country stop someone else from selling something to someone else? If the UAE was not the seller, can the port owner stop a shipment from elsewhere from going through?
Another thing I wondered about these "switches"; it's entirely possible that we wanted them to go through, that they were defective in some way, and that the whole incident was a charade of some kind intended to screw up whoever was to receive them.
I have not read the document Hunter was referring to, however, from what he said it appears that Customs seemed to think they could demand the shipment not be shipped.
There would be no point to port security if the powers that be could not take possession of items deemed not allowed to be sold.
There are all sorts of import/export restrictions, as well as customs and excises.
The "66 switches" story is fun. I researched it Friday morning.
No only customs or something like the Department of Trade in the originating country can stop a shipment.