Dubai: Two men have been given 10-year jail terms and fined Dh50,000 each for hiding 54.5 kilograms of heroin and diazepam in boxes of oranges.
The Dubai Court of First Instance found the men, 34-year-old K.O. and 32-year-old M.S., guilty of possessing drugs.
K.O., M.S., and a 36-year-old Pakistani salesman, M.A., denied the charges of possessing drugs.
"K.O. and M.S. will be deported following the completion of their jail terms. Meanwhile, M.A. has been acquitted," said Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad pronouncing Monday's judgment.
"I possessed heroin and diazepam but I did not have any intention to promote to others. My friend asked me to keep a bag with me until I handed it over to another person. Police didn't question me. I was referred to the prosecution without asking me what was my intention behind possessing that substance," said Nigerian K.O. when he defended himself.
Prosecutors said K.O. possessed 16.1 kilograms of heroin and diazepam in 137 plastic transparent bags. Nigerian M.S. possessed 9.8 kilograms of the same drugs for the same purpose.
M.A. was charged with possessing [along with other suspects who ran away] 29.8 kilograms of heroin and diazepam for trafficking purposes.
"No I didn't," contended M.A.
M.S. argued: "I was not arrested in possession of any drugs. I have a cargo company. A person came and asked me to dispatch for him a consignment by cargo. I did not know it contained drugs. Had I been… in possession I wouldn't have taken the police to where the cargo was."
An Emirati anti-narcotics police major said K.O. and M.A. were arrested first.
"A total of 230 boxes of oranges that contained heroin and diazepam were delivered to M.S … we arrested M.S. in Hor Al Anz. We found nine boxes of oranges in the back trunk. The boxes were clean of drugs. We realised the boxes had been cut open from the sides and some materials had been emptied from them."
