Dubai: Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence against a salesman, who drug enforcement officers arrested in a sting operation while selling marijuana to an informant in Naif.

The 25-year-old Cameroonian salesman, J.P., was said to have possessed 1.47g of marijuana that he agreed to sell to the informant for Dh200 in December.

Drugs prosecutors accused J.P. of possessing two pieces of marijuana weighing 0.65g and 0.82g for trading purposes.

The defendant entered a not-guilty plea and denied the charge of possessing the drugs for trading purposes when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

“I possessed the marijuana … but not for trading. I did not intend to sell them,” said the man when he defended himself on Thursday.

“What was the purpose of possessing them?” presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat asked J.P.

“I possessed them for my personal consumption,” he replied.

An anti-narcotics police captain testified that an informant alerted them the defendant was searching for someone to buy marijuana.

“The informant did not specify how much J.P. had planned to sell the drugs for. After obtaining prosecutors’ permission to search and arrest the suspect, the informant called up J.P. and posed as a buyer. The suspect and the informant agreed to meet in front of a hotel in Naif and strike the deal. The Cameroonian requested Dh200. As part of the sting operation, a stakeout team was dispatched to the location. The defendant arrived at the designated location carrying a sport bag around 11.30pm. The informant met the defendant and they walked behind a mosque for a few minutes and then they stopped in front of a building. Police raided the spot and apprehended the suspect after the informant flashed for the team that the deed had been struck. The police money was found in the defendant’s possession in addition to a piece of marijuana. Upon confronting J.P. with the seized substance, he alleged that he sold the informant a smoking material and not a drug,” the captain claimed.

A policeman, who questioned the suspect after his arrest, claimed to prosecutors: “The defendant claimed that he bought the substance from a Nigerian man for Dh100. The Nigerian man was not found.”

A lawyer will be appointed to defend the suspect when the court reconvenes on April 23.