Dubai: A salesman and a jobless woman have been accused of consuming drugs and possessing methamphetamine to promote them among drug users.

Drug enforcement officers apprehended the 48-year-old Filipino salesman, R.P. after they stopped his car in Al Baraha area and seized a tiny quantity of methamphetamine from him in May.

Records did not mention how and from where was R.P.’s 28-year-old countrywoman, R.J., arrested.

Prosecutors accused R.P. and R.J. of possessing drugs for promotion and consuming a mind-altering substance.

The couple denied they possessed the drug for promotion when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said R.P. possessed four tiny plastic sacks that contained 1.71gm of methamphetamine for promotion, while R.J. possessed 0.24g of the same substance and for the same purpose.

“I possessed the methamphetamine for my personal consumption … it was not for promotion,” R.P. argued before the presiding judge.

R.J. confessed that she had consumed the banned substance and told the presiding judge that she possessed methamphetamine for consumption, not for promotion.

An anti-narcotics police lieutenant told prosecutors that they apprehended R.P. following an informant’s tipoff that he had been promoting drugs among users in Al Baraha.

“A police squad headed to the location and once they spotted the suspect in his Mercedes car, they stopped him. Upon searching the car, we found a white bag from which we seized four small sacks that contained methamphetamine. We also found some cash under the gas pedal. When asked about the money, the suspect claimed that it was to pay for renewing his driving licence. When asked about the banned substances, he claimed that a person named Raj gave it to him in Ajman … and that he sold it among drug users in Dubai. The suspect was taken into custody and referred to the anti-narcotics department for a drug test. Meanwhile, another police team headed to Ajman to apprehend the so-called Raj, but he was not present,” the lieutenant testified to prosecutors.

According to records, the suspects tested positive for methamphetamine.

The defendants were said to have admitted to prosecutors that they possessed and consumed methamphetamine.

The trial continues.