Dubai: Two jobless men have each been jailed for life for possessing 30 Flunitrazepam [a banned substance] tablets that they tried to sell to an informant for Dh8,000.
The Nigerian duo, 25-year-old S.B. and 33-year-old J.S., possessed the mind-altering substance for trading purposes when drug enforcement officers apprehended them in a sting operation in April.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Nigerians of possessing the Flunitrazepam for trading purposes despite having entered not guilty pleas.
“I possessed the pills for personal consumption and not for trading,” S.B. told the court.
His accomplice J.S. contended that he was sleeping when law enforcement officers raided their flat and apprehended him.
“I am not guilty,” he said.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said in court on Tuesday: “The defendants have also been fined Dh50,000 each. They will be deported following the completion of their punishments.”
An anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified that an informant alerted them that S.B. possessed marijuana and other banned substances that he intended to sell for Dh8,000.
“We commissioned the informant to contact S.B. and arrange to meet him in Al Nahda to buy the banned substances from him. As earlier agreed with the informant, S.B. reached a sandy spot in Al Nahda … he checked the marked cash that we had provided to the informant. The defendant walked away and entered an area [in Sharjah] that fell beyond Dubai Police’s jurisdiction … he came back after a while. Once the deal was struck, we raided the location and arrested S.B. The marked cash was found in his possession. The informant told us that S.B. did not bring marijuana. Upon confronting S.B. with the findings, he admitted that he sold the pills to the informant. He also claimed that he obtained the pills from J.S. The latter was arrested in his flat in Sharjah,” the lieutenant told the court.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.