Dubai: Two jobless men have been accused of 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., were said to have possessed the mind-altering substance for trading purposes before drug enforcement officers apprehended them in a sting operation in April.
The suspects denied the accusation that they possessed the Flunitrazepam for trading purposes when they entered their pleas before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
“I possessed the pills for personal consumption and not for trading,” S.B. argued before presiding judge Shaikha Al Gefaili.
Meanwhile J.S. contended that he was sleeping when law enforcement officers raided their flat and apprehended him.
An anti-narcotics police lieutenant claimed to prosecutors 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 the suspect 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 police money that we had provided to the informant. The suspect 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 police money was found in his possession. The informant informed us that the suspect 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,” he testified.
Presiding judge Al Gefaili adjourned the case until the court appoints two lawyers to defend the suspects on October 20.
