Dubai: A Brazilian model has lost her appeal and will spend four years in jail for consuming and possessing marijuana that was confiscated from her hotel room.

The 23-year-old model was on a work visit in Dubai when drug enforcement officers raided her deluxe room in a Jumeirah hotel where she was caught in possession of 8.58gm of marijuana in January.

In May, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the Brazilian model of possessing and consuming drugs.

The Dubai Appeal Court overturned her acquittal and sentenced her to four years in jail.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif said the accused will be deported after serving her jail term.

When she appeared in court, she denied her accusations, “The confiscated material did not belong to me. It could have belonged to other women who visited my room that night. I consumed marijuana in Mexico.”

When asked how she possessed marijuana, the 23-year-old Brazilian said some other women came to her room and could have brought the banned substance with them.

Records said the model possessed marijuana weighing 5.8gm hidden in a nylon pouch that also contained another piece weighing 2.67gm as well as another tiny amount of the same drug weighing 0.11gm for her personal consumption. She was also accused of consuming drugs.

A drug enforcement officer said the defendant’s room was raided following an informant’s tip-off that she possessed and consumed drugs inside her hotel room.

The model testified before prosecutors that she was with a group of models at the hotel’s bar and, when it closed at 3am, they went up to her room.

“Some models and other guys came up to my room and left around 6am. I slept. Police raided the room later and found marijuana and some equipment used to consume it and arrested me. I had Dh11,000 and $4,000 that were stolen from my room. I consumed marijuana in Mexico on December 2 and entered Dubai on January 5. Maybe another model left that drug in the room to set me up,” she said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.