Dubai: A sailor denied in court on Monday the charge of possessing 52kg of opium with the intent of trafficking and contended that he was under the impression that he was carrying a water pump after being asked to transfer a heavy jute bag to a car.

Drug enforcement officers arrested the Iranian sailor, Q.N., 25 during a sting operation as he carried the jute bag containing the drugs from a berthed boat to a car parked in a port in Deira in September.

Drugs prosecutors accused Q.N. of possessing 52kg of opium for trading purposes and also charged him with consuming methadone.

The defendant entered a guilty plea when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday but insisted he was not aware of the contents of the bag he was carrying. “I did not know that it was drugs. The boat captain asked me to move the bag [that contained the drugs] as he told me that it contained a water pump. He ordered me to take the pump to a car parked in the port’s parking lot. I moved the heavy bag and, when I reached the car, I knocked at the window and asked the person inside to help me carry the pump; immediately thereafter, the police came and arrested me,” the suspect told presiding judge Urfan Omar.

“Why did you take the substances and hand it over to the police [undercover officers who were part of the sting operation team]?” the judge asked him.

“I was just told by the captain that it was a pump, I did not know that I carried drugs,” replied Q.N.

When asked if he had consumed drugs, the sailor argued: “We were sailing near Kish island when I felt seasick; one of the sailors gave me a pill and said it would heal me. I was not aware that he had given me a banned pill.”

Prosecutors charged the suspect with possessing 11 pieces of opium for trading purposes and consuming a mind-altering substance.

An anti-narcotics police officer testified before prosecutors that an informant alerted them that the sailor was searching for someone to buy around 50kg of drugs for Dh10,000.

“The suspect had provided our informant with a tiny piece of drug as a sample. I was tasked to pose as the buyer and a police team was dispatched to the port as part of the sting operation. The suspect came off the boat and he pushed the bag on a trolley; once he reached the undercover police car, he knocked at the window. Then once he moved the bag to the car, the police team raided the location and apprehended him. Upon confronting Q.N., he claimed that his boss [captain] told him that the bag contained a water pump — he alleged that he did not know that it contained drugs,” the officer said.

A lawyer will be appointed to defend the suspect when the court reconvenes on February 1.