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Dubai: An elderly Afghan and an Afghan teenager, who stuffed 47.6kg of heroin in almonds and brought them to Dubai to sell, have been jailed.
Dubai Court of First Instance fined 63-year-old A.S. and 19-year-old K.A. Dh50,000 each. A.S. was given a life sentence, which is 25 years in jail according to the UAE law.
The court sentenced K.A. to five years in jail because he is under 21. They will be deported after serving their jail terms.
The two pleaded not guilty to smuggling heroin and claimed that a man promised them a job if they delivered the almonds to someone in Sharjah.
The Public Prosecution charged them with bringing in and possessing 47.6kg of heroin, which was packed inside almonds, with commercial intent.
Customs officers at Dubai International Airport foiled their attempt to smuggle the heroin out of the airport into the emirate and referred them to Dubai Police's Anti-Narcotics Department.
After inspection, anti-narcotics police found the heroin in the almonds, which were hidden in 86 small bags.
Carefully packed
An Emirati customs inspector testified: "K.A. arrived in Dubai onboard an Afghan airline. A colleague of mine searched his two handbags in which the almonds were placed. We discovered that the heroin was packed in small transparent sacks and each stuffed inside an almond."
He said the 19-year-old claimed that a man named Sajid handed him the handbags in Kandahar and asked him to deliver them to someone in Sharjah.
A 26-year-old customs inspector who arrested the 63-year-old suspect in a similar manner, gave the same statement.
An anti-narcotics police corporal testified: "The suspect who was scheduled to receive the drugs in Sharjah cut loose and we are still searching for him."
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