Dubai: A visitor will spend seven years behind bars and pay a hefty fine of Dh50,000 for smuggling and possessing five kilograms of amphetamine capsules that he intended to deliver to another man
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 34-year-old Lebanese visitor, W.A., of smuggling and possessing amphetamine for distribution.
Anti-narcotics police investigations revealed that W.A. had intended to hand over the capsules to a fellow countryman, but the latter was arrested at Rafik Hariri International Airport while trying to smuggle amphetamines from Beirut to Dubai.
"The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment," Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad said on Monday.
"I am guilty," argued W.A. when he confessed to smuggling and possessing drugs.
Prosecution records said an Emirati customs inspector exposed the visitor's attempt to smuggle the drugs outside of Dubai International Airport.
The scanning machine exposed that drug capsules hidden ‘professionally and technically' in both sides of the bag's bottom.
W.A. was referred to Dubai Police's anti-narcotics department for questioning.
An Emirati anti-narcotics police captain testified that W.A. admitted that he took the bag from his friend in Lebanon and was scheduled to deliver it to a Saudi or a Lebanese person in Dubai.
"The suspect admitted that he was supposed to check in at a hotel in Deira and wait for a Saudi or Lebanese man to pick the bag. He said he earlier carried a similar bag to Qatar, where he handed the bag to a Saudi citizen. Police kept W.A. under surveillance to arrest the person who would collect the bag. He received several calls from Beirut and he was instructed to wait in the hotel.
"Later W.A. was informed over the phone that the Lebanese person who was supposed to pick up the drugs was detained at Beirut airport for smuggling out a similar drug. W.A. was instructed to get rid of the bag and return to Lebanon," the captain claimed.
Monday's judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
