UAE | Crime
Visitor gets 10 years in jail on drug charge
Confesses to smuggling poppy seeds.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 September 28, 2010
Dubai: A visitor is facing ten years in jail after a court convicted him on Monday of smuggling 123 grammes of poppy seeds from his hometown in Pakistan.
The Dubai Court of First Instance also ordered the 44-year-old visitor to pay a fine of Dh50,000 after Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad ruled that he was guilty of smuggling and possessing drugs.
The accused, identified as M.R., pleaded guilty when he appeared in court.
Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad also ordered that the accused be deported after completing his jail term.
The arraignment sheet said M.R. had attempted to smuggle into Dubai 123 grammes of poppy seeds — a banned substance under UAE laws — and with possessing the substance.
When questioned by Dubai Police and prosecutors, M.R. admitted that customs inspectors discovered the poppy seeds hidden in his luggage, police said. He also confessed that he had smuggled the illegal substance from his homeland.
Testimony
An Emirati first inspector at Dubai Customs testified that the crime was detected at Dubai International Airport's Terminal 2.
"I suspected the defendant when he arrived at the arrivals terminal. I accompanied him to a search room … when I searched him personally, I did not find anything. Then I searched his luggage and found a black nylon bag which contained six plastic transparent sacks. The nylon sacks contained grass-like substance which seemed to be poppy seeds. Immediately, he alleged that the confiscated substances did not belong to him … he claimed that he brought them from Pakistan to hand them to another person," the first inspector said during prosecution questioning.
"I am guilty… someone in my hometown gave me the substances and asked me to deliver it to another person in the UAE," claimed M.R. when he appeared in court.
The primary judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
Community Reports
-
Mirror, mirror show me the way
Driver on Salam Street had so many boxes and fruits piled into car, he would not be able to view rear or right side mirrors
-
Parents should be more vigilant
Reader's picture highlights risk of negligence by caretakers
-
Warming up to ‘Mobilise the Earth' theme
Dubai school dedicates a whole week to celebrating Earth Day with can-collection drives, sapling plantation and painting competition among others
-
Drivers using mobiles put others' lives at risk
Speeding is dangerous for the driver and other motorists
Latest news
- Youngsters dance and raise cash for charity
- Dubai departments upgrade services
- Get yourself a free test for diabetes
- Ensuring a safety net for intellectual property
- Reader's issue addressed
- 5,552 illegals held in Dubai this year
- Man cleared because he took drugs in France
- Man charged with trafficking women
- Auditors to probe Mizin graft case
- Transfusion centre launches new toll free number
- Mirror, mirror show me the way
- Last minute ID rush is on
- Breaking down cultural barriers with photographs
- Car seats for children: Unsafe at any speed
- Abu Dhabi Crown Prince visits Islamic centre
