UAE | Crime
Bodybuilder's friend held for smuggling
A 22-year-old Emirati student who forged a VIP identity card is standing trial on charges of illegally bringing in 3,817 mind-affecting and bodybuilding pills, most of which were meant for his friend, a member of the UAE national bodybuilding team.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:47 March 3, 2008
Dubai: A 22-year-old Emirati student who forged a VIP identity card is standing trial on charges of illegally bringing in 3,817 mind-affecting and bodybuilding pills, most of which were meant for his friend, a member of the UAE national bodybuilding team.
The student claimed that he uses the pills as treatment for a mental disorder.
He claimed that his compatriot friend, who is a bodybuilder with the national team, paid him Dh80,000 to bring him the muscle-building pills from India.
Forgery charges
The Public Prosecution charged him with smuggling and possessing 3,817 pills which contained a mind-affecting substance. He was also charged with consuming different kinds of mind-affecting substances.
He was also charged with forging a VIP identity card to evade being searched by the airport customs.
The Public Prosecution also charged him with importing medicines without permission from the health authorities.
When he appeared before Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday, the suspect, who has been detained, denied forging or using the fake ID.
He confessed to bringing in the pills and told the court: "The mind-affecting substances are for my medical treatment."
A 26-year-old customs inspection officer testified: "When the suspect arrived at the search counter, he showed the card and refused to have his handbags scanned. The card read 'allow its carrier to enter anyplace without obstruction'. I suspected the card and asked him for his passport which identified him as an ordinary citizen."
A hearing will be held later this month.
Drug charges: Media personality freed
A senior executive of a UK based television company has been acquittted of illegally bringing in and possessing 0.03gm of hashish, Gulf News learnt on Sunday.
The Dubai Public Prosecution dismissed the charges against the German suspect, K.T., and decided to release the suspect soon. "The Attorney General has decided to dismiss the charges against my client and issued a release order yesterday noontime,"
K.T.'s lawyer Nasser Hashim of Al Kamali Advocates and Legal Consultants told Gulf News. A customs inspector stopped the suspect, who came on a business trip, at Dubai International Airport for illegally bringing in and possessing the banned substance during the last week of January.
"The suspect, who is a media figure in the UK, was unaware the drug was in the bag which he claims is used by many of his friends. The seized drugs [0.03 grams] are barely visible to the naked eye," Hashim said in his appeal which he submitted to the Public Prosecution.
The lawyer argued that his client had no criminal intention and wouldn't risk his future and career by possessing hashish "especially as he works for a reputable institution".
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