Dubai: A sailor has been jailed for 15 years for smuggling 258 kilograms of hashish on board a boat and possessing the drugs for promotional purposes.
The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the 24-year-old Iranian sailor, M.A., for 15 years and fined him Dh200,000. His intentions behind possessing the drugs was to promote it amongst others.
Drug enforcement officers arrested the defendant following a tip off in Naif area while he was about to hand over 50 kilograms of the hashish consignment to another person.
The defendant guided the arresting police team to the remaining amount of hashish that was hidden in the boat’s storeroom.
“The boat will be confiscated and the hashish as well. The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment,” said presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.
When the sailor appeared in court, he entered a guilty plea.
An Emirati anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified: “An informant alerted Dubai Police anti-narcotics department that an unidentified person will receive a phone call from abroad… the caller would ask that person to hand over the drugs to the informant in order to export it outside the UAE. A police team was assigned to arrest the person in a sting operation. The unknown person showed up in Naif area and he stood beside a brown handbag that contained the hashish. He seemed confused and afraid while he spoke over the phone. We received a phone call from the informant informing us that the person asked him to come and collect the drugs. Immediately we busted the person, who turned out to be M.A.
“He confessed that he placed the bag, which contained 50 kilograms of hashish, where it was seized. During questioning, he claimed that he got more drugs on the boat. We accompanied him to the boat and he took out the rest of the consignment from the storeroom. The boat was berthed at Dubai Marina. M.A. confessed that he smuggled the hashish from Iran and was supposed to hand it over to a person.”
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
