Dubai: A driver lost his appeal and will spend 10 years in jail for possessing 2.1kg of banned substances that he intended to smuggle into Kuwait for promotional purposes.
Drug enforcement officers arrested the 25-year-old Pakistani driver, M.Q., during a sting operation shortly after he talked to an informant regarding smuggling the banned substances to Kuwait for Dh12,000 per kilogram.
The Dubai Appeal Court also upheld a fine of Dh50,000 against M.Q., who was convicted of possessing 303 capsules of heroin and diazepam weighing 2.13kg for promotional purposes.
Presiding judge Eisa Mohammad Al Sharif said the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
M.Q. contended before the appellate court that he did not have any promotional intent.
When asked about the intent behind possessing the drugs, the defendant argued that a person gave him the box to deliver to someone else. “I did not know that it contained drugs. I had no clue what it contained,” M.Q. alleged in his verbal defence.
An anti-narcotics police lieutenant said he arranged for the sting operation to be carried out in April 2014.
“An anti-narcotics police team was dispatched to Al Ghusais near the cattle market where the deal was scheduled to be sealed. I assigned one of the corporals to communicate with the defendant and arrange to meet him and pick up the drugs to smuggle them outside the country. Once the defendant arrived and handed over a nylon bag that contained the banned substances to the corporal, we raided the place and arrested M.Q. The seized drugs were wrapped with plastic tape. When I confronted the accused, he admitted that the drugs belonged to him. He also confessed that he was looking for someone to carry the drugs to Kuwait and hand them over to a person against Dh12,000 per kilogram,” the lieutenant said.
The appellate judgement remains subject to appeal within 28 days.
