Dubai: Two visitors have been jailed for four years each for possessing a tiny quantity of hashish that they smuggled with them by car while visiting Dubai.
The Omani visitors, 28-year-old M.K. and 30-year-old M.M., hid the hashish beside the gearbox and in the pocket of one of the doors when they were stopped by a customs inspector at Hatta border checkpoint in December.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted M.K. of smuggling and possessing around 5g of hashish for his personal consumption.
M.M. was convicted of smuggling and possessing 0.15g of hashish for his personal use as well.
The defendants pleaded guilty and admitted they smuggled the drugs from Oman when they appeared in court.
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the duo will be deported after serving their punishment.
A customs inspector testified that he suspected the visitors’ car once they arrived at the border checkpoint.
“M.K. was driving the car … I asked him to pull over to have the car searched. When I searched the car, I found a transparent nylon sack with a piece of hashish inside it hidden in the right door pocket. Meanwhile another piece of hashish was also found in the dashboard. A third piece of the same drug was also found beside the gearbox. When I confronted the duo with the findings, they confessed they smuggled and possessed the hashish to consume them during their stay,” he claimed to prosecutors.
When questioned by prosecutors, the accused confessed they possessed the drugs for their personal use.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.
