Dubai: Three men lost their appeals and would be jailed for life for possessing 3.9 million amphetamine pills that were scheduled to be exported to Saudi Arabia and sold for Dh29.4 million.
The trio, two Syrians and a Saudi, were apprehended by drug enforcement officers in collaboration with an informant, who communicated with them and helped in having the trio arrested in a sting operation in July 2016.
The 43-year-old Saudi visitor flew into Dubai to arrange with the Syrians to stash the banned pills in a rented vehicle and export them to Saudi Arabia.
In March, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the trio of smuggling and possessing drugs for promotional purposes.
They were each fined Dh100,000.
The trio appealed the primary verdict before the Dubai Appeal Court and sought to have their punishments reduced.
Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected their appeals and upheld the life imprisonment against the defendants.
According to the appellate ruling, the trio will each pay the Dh100,000 fine as well.
The three accused, who had pleaded not guilty, will be deported following the completion of their punishments.
The 3.9 million pills will be confiscated.
A drug enforcement officer said upon questioning the Saudi, the latter admitted that his role was to coordinate with the Syrians, smuggle the drugs into Saudi Arabia and sell them for Dh29.4 million [the market price for the quantity].
Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department arranged a sting operation and apprehended the trio after having placed them under strict surveillance.
One of the Syrians was found guilty of consuming amphetamine.
The defendants pleaded innocent and denied having possessed the drugs for promotion.
An anti-narcotics police lieutenant said the Saudi was a member of a drug gang that had planned to promote mind-altering substances.
“We received a tipoff from one of our informants who is a truck driver that he had been contacted by the Saudi defendant in order to rent for him [the Saudi] a vehicle to export banned pills to Saudi Arabia. We placed the 43-year-old under surveillance for some time … during the strict stakeout, it was discovered that the two Syrians were also involved in cooperating with the Saudi to stash the pills in a vehicle. Then we arrested the defendants in a sting operation.
“The Saudi admitted that he travelled to Dubai particularly to smuggle the pills into his country. He said that he had a Saudi partner, who turned out to be imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. He claimed that they had been promised Dh29.4 million for smuggling the pills to Saudi Arabia. The Syrian defendants said their role was limited to packing the pills in bags,” the lieutenant said.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 20 days.
