Dubai: Two visitors will now be tried in Abu Dhabi in a case of alleged smuggling of 191kg of amphetamine pills that they intended to promote before anti-drug enforcement officers seized the drugs from their car.

Officers were tipped off by an informant before they monitored the two Saudi visitors, aged 26 and 31, and apprehended them from a sandy area behind a Dubai metro station.

Anti-drug officers seized 10 bags containing more than 1.04 million pills of amphetamine from the back seat of the defendants’ car.

In July, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the Saudi duo to life in jail and fined them Dh100,000 each for possessing the banned pills for promotional purposes.

However, the defendants appealed their punishments before the Appeal Court that overturned the ruling on grounds of lack of jurisdiction.

The case has been referred to the Abu Dhabi Courts because of jurisdictional issues.

The 31-year-old defendant argued in court that he had nothing to do with the possession and was not apprehended with any banned substance with him. He argued that he consumed drugs outside the UAE.

A major of anti-narcotics police said an informant alerted them that the 26-year-old defendant is a member of a notorious drug gang.

“The informant alerted us that the defendants possessed a huge quantity of drug pills. During investigation, it was found out that the 26-year-old was present in his vehicle in Abu Hail. As part of a sting operation, a drug team monitored the defendant, who was driving a car with a Saudi number plate … he reached a sandy area behind one of the metro stations and we stopped at a distance watching him. Then the 31-year-old arrived in another car … he stepped out of his car and went to speak with his countryman. A few minutes later, we raided the two cars and apprehended the duo. We seized 10 bags full of amphetamine pills from the back seat. During questioning, the two accused alleged that they had been cooperating with a Saudi person based in their country. The 26-year-old accused said his countryman tasked him with collecting the pills from another person in Dubai and that his share of promoting those substances was Dh881,000,” the major testified.